INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

UNITED  STATES 


ALLEN 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 


F£b    2    r. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  ,  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT    OF 


Class 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


UNITED  STATES 


BY 


NELLIE  B.  ALLEN 

II 
STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL,  FITCHBURG,  MASS. 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY 
NELLIE  B.  ALLEN 


ALL   BIGHTS   RESERVED 
810.10 


fltftenceum 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PKEFACE 

This  is  an  industrial  era.  The  nations  which  lead  indus- 
trially are  the  controlling  nations  of  the  world.  Nine  tenths 
of  the  pupils  in  our  schools  will  enter  some  form  of  indus- 
trial life.  We  are  dependent  for  our  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter  on  the  great  industries  in  our  own  and  other  coun- 
tries. The  whole  world  is  united  by"  a  network  of  industrial 
and  commercial  chains. 

A  practical  knowledge  of  the  United  States  can  be  gained 
largely  through  a  study  of  its  industries.  In  this  way  the 
pupil  is  brought  into  direct  touch  with  practical  life  and 
with  that  form  of  human  effort  which  has,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, determined  the  rank  and  position  of  this  country 
among  nations. 

In  these  Studies  each  industry  is  dealt  with  as  a  type,  in 
order  that  the  pupil  meeting  with  the  same  subject  in  later 
work  will  understand  its  essential  features. 

The  physical  geography  treated  of  in  the  early  chapters 
is  closely  connected  with  the  industries  dealt  with  in  later 
portions  of  the  book.  Such  topics  as  soil,  surface,  climate, 
drainage,  etc.,  will  assume  a  definite,  concrete  form  in  the 
child's  mind  if  studied  not  as  detached  subjects  but  as 
underlying  causes  of  the  success  of  certain  great  industries. 
If  pupils  learn  to  look  for  some  of  the  causes  of  our  indus- 
trial life  in  the  physiography  of  the  country,  they  will  be 
better  able,  in  studying  other  continents,  to  trace  the  con- 
nection between  physical  features  and  the  industries  which 
depend  upon  them. 

iii 

208257 


iv  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Though  the  emphasis  in  these  pages  is  laid  upon  indus- 
tries as  carried  on  in  the  United  States,  reference  is  made 
to  their  existence  in  other  countries  in  order  that  the  pupil 
may  think  of  great  world  belts  of  production  and  not  of 
areas  limited  by  political  boundaries. 

Location  of  places  should  not  be  neglected.  The  lists 
given  at  the  end  of  the  chapters  include  all  the  places  of 
importance  mentioned  in  the  text,  and  will  be  of  help  in 
reviewing  location.  If  the  pupils  can  locate  each  and  give 
certain  facts  showing  its  industrial  importance,  they  will 
have,  in  addition  to  their  fund  of  information  concerning 
the  industrial  life  of  the  country,  a  definite,  concrete  knowl- 
edge of  cities,  states,  rivers,  mountains,  etc.  Many  places  are 
mentioned  in  more  than  one  chapter.  By  keeping  in  mind 
the  different  industries  connected  with  each,  a  broad  knowl- 
edge of  our  great  cities  will  be  built  up  in  the  child's  mind. 

In  the  Topics  for  Study,  given  at  the  close  of  each  chap- 
ter, much  hand  work  is  suggested.  This  is  done  with  the 
firm  conviction  that  motor  activity  is  of  the  greatest  aid  to 
memory.  Maps  sketched,  places  located  upon  them,  routes 
indicated,  etc.,  will  remain  much  more  firmly  fixed  in  the 
mind  than  if  only  orally  described.  In  this  connection  the 
use  of  hectographed  outlines,  cut-up  maps,  railroad  guides, 
and  other  material  is  strongly  recommended. 

The  pictures  and  maps  have  been  selected  with  much 
care  and  will  be  found  of  great  help.  Both  should  be 
studied  as  thoughtfully  as  the  text  itself. 

The  industries  here  presented  have  been  studied  witli 
children  for  several  years.  The  added  interest  and  value 
that  this  work  has  given  to  the  geography  lessons  is  the 
reason  for  putting  the  material  into  more  permanent 

NELLIE   B.  ALLEN 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    INTRODUCTION 1 

II.    POSITION  AND  SIZE 6 

III.  SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE 11 

IV.  CLIMATE  AND  Son 32 

V.    WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS 43 

VI.    COTTON 51 

VII.    SUGAR 66 

VIII.    FRUIT     . 81 

IX.    WHEAT 107 

X.    CORN 125 

XI.    COAL 138 

XII.    IRON 166 

XIII.  GOLD  AND  SILVER 184 

XIV.  THE  CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 209 

XV.    THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY .  233 

XVI.    LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 253 

XVII.    FISHERIES 287 

INDEX  321 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIGURE  PAGE 

1.  Trade  Routes  and  Ocean  Currents 7 

2.  Harvesting  Wheat 9 

3.  Divisions  of  the  Appalachian  Highland 12 

4.  The  Fall  Line 14 

5.  Delaware  Water  Gap 17 

6.  A  Few  Miles  from  Oranges  to  Snow 19 

7.  " Old  Faithful"  Geyser 20 

8.  Divisions  of  the  Great  Western  Highland 22 

9.  Mt.  Shasta 24 

10.  Railroads  often  follow  River  Valleys 27 

11.  Winter  in  Southern  California 33 

12.  Niagara  Falls  in  Winter •  ...  34 

13.  Annual  Rainfall  of  the  United  States 36 

14.  Varieties  of  Cactus  under  Cultivation 38 

15.  Natural  Bridge,  Virginia 39 

16.  Glaciated  Area  of  the  United  States 40 

17.  View  of  Lock  in  "  Soo  "  Canal 44 

18.  "Soo"  Canal 45 

19.  Some  of  the  Great  Railroads  of  the  United  States 48 

20.  Cotton  on  Wharf  at  New  Orleans 52 

21.  Cultivating  Cotton,  Dallas,  Texas 53 

22.  Picking  Cotton 54 

23.  Weighing  Cotton 55 

24.  Shipping  Cotton 56 

25.  Planting  Cane 68 

26.  Cutting  Cane  on  a  Cuban  Sugar  Plantation 69 

27.  Pickaninnies'  Candy  Store 73 

28.  Tapping  a  Sugar-Maple  Tree 76 

29.  Gathering  Sap  in  a  Maple-Sugar  Camp 77 

30.  Making  Sirup  in  the  Good  Old-fashioned  Way 78 

31.  One  of  Luther  Burbank's  Productions 82 

32.  Ten  Thousand  Acres  of  Orange  Groves  in  California    ....  85 

33.  Irrigating  an  Orange  Grove  in  California 87 

vii 


viii  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

FIGURE  PAGE 

34.  Grapes  Drying,  Fresno,  California        93 

35.  Grapes  for  the  Winery,  Fresno,  California 95 

36.  Prune  Grader 100 

37.  Prune  Drier,  California 101 

38.  Plowing  the  Wheat  Field 108 

39.  Replowing  with  Steam  Outfit  in  Valley  of  California ....  109 

40.  Harvesting  on  a  Big  Farm 110 

41.  Wheat  Stacks Ill 

42.  Grain  Elevator,  Duluth,  Minnesota 112 

43.  Steam  Harvesting  Outfit 114 

44.  Harvesting  Wheat  with  a  Cradle .     .  115 

45.  Native  Women  Grinding  Wheat  in  Palestine 116 

46.  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Railroad 118 

47.  An  Illinois  Cornfield 127 

48.  Corn  from  Good  and  from  Poor  Seed 129 

49.  Cutting  Corn  by  Machinery 131 

50.  Hogs  in  Kansas 132 

51;  Miners'  Wives  searching  for  Coal  on  Culm  Pile 139 

52.  Miners'  Children  and  Houses  in  Pennsylvania 140 

53.  Miners  starting  to  go  down  the  Shaft 142 

54.  Slope  Mining 146 

55.  Miners  going  into  Slope 147 

56.  One  Mile  Underground  in  Pennsylvania 151 

57.  Setting  Props 153 

58.  Largest  Coal  Breakers  in  the  United  States 155 

59.  Coal  Barges  on  the  Ohio  River 159 

60.  Coke  Ovens  and  their  Smoke  Consumers,  Pi ttsburg,  Pennsylvania  163 

61.  Iron  Mines,  Ironwood,  Michigan 169 

62.  Steam  Shovel  at  Work,  Burt  Mine,  Mesabi  Range 170 

63.  Overlooking  the  Ore  Docks,  Two  Harbors,  Minnesota     .     .     .  171 

64.  Loading  a  Ship,  Two  Harbors,  Minnesota 173 

65.  Blast  Furnaces,  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania 177 

66.  Ladle  pouring  Molten  Iron  into  Pig  Iron  Molds 178 

67.  Route  to  the  Klondike  Region 185 

68.  Prospectors  and  their  Packs,  Chilkoot  Pass 187 

69.  Pack  Train  on  the  Way  to  the  Klondike 188 

70.  Washing  out  Gold  with  Pans 190 

71.  Miners  at  Lunch  on  the  Beach,  Cape  Nome 192 

72.  Placer  Mining,  Idaho  City 197 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  ix 

FIGURE  PAGE 

73.  Gold  King  Mine 199 

74.  A  Mining  Town,  Georgetown,  Colorado 203 

75.  Cattle  Ranch  on  the  Cimarron 210 

76.  The  Round-up 213 

77.  Branding  the  Calves 214 

78.  Cowboys'  Camp  on  a  Texas  Cattle  Ranch 217 

79.  Shipping  Beef  to  the  Chicago  Market,  Montana 219 

80.  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Union  Stockyards,  Chicago  ....  221 

81.  Cooling  Room  in  a  Large  Chicago  Packing  House     ....  222 

82.  Milking  Cows,  Briarcliif  Farms,  near  New  York  City    .     .     .  227 

83.  Churning  Butter  with  Old-fashioned  Dasher  Churn  ....  228 

84.  The  Great  Churn  which  churns  Eight  Hundred  Pounds  of 

Butter  at  a  Time 229 

85.  The  Separator  at  Work,  Briarcliff  Farms     .......  230 

86.  Sheep  grazing  on  the  Plains 235 

87.  The  Lone  Montana  Shepherd  and  his  Best  Friend     ....  236 

88.  Coyotes 238 

89.  Three  Thousand  Sheep  astray  on  a  Mountain  Range      .     .     .  240 

90.  Sheep  Pens,  Montana 243 

91.  Alpacas  in  Peru,  South  America 249 

92.  Shearing  Camels  in  Egypt 250 

93.  The  Lumbermen's  Camp 254 

94.  Felling  with  Axes 255 

95.  Felling  Fir  Trees  in  Oregon 256 

96.  A  Holiday  among  the  Fallen  Monarchs 257 

97.  Sledding 258 

98.  A  Big  Load 259 

99.  The  Log  Pile  .     .     .    ' 260 

100.  A  Log  Jam 261 

101.  The  River  House 262 

102.  The  Boom 263 

103.  Lumber  at  Paper  Mill  at  Millinocket 266 

104.  Fluming  Lumber  from  the  Mountains  in  Oregon 269 

105.  The  Tunnel  Tree 271 

106.  Port  Blakely  Mills,  the  Largest  in  the  World,  Washington     .  275 

107.  Chippers  on  Turpentine  Farm,  Georgia 277 

108.  Pouring  Turpentine  in  Georgia 278 

109.  Twenty  Thousand  Resin  Barrels  on  Savannah  Wharf    .     .     .  279 

110.  Drying  Fish  in  Gloucester 288 


x  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

FIGURE  PAGE 

111.  Salmon  leaping  over  Falls 295 

112.  A  Fish  Trap 296 

113.  Fish  Wheels  in  the  Columbia  River,  Oregon 297 

114.  Salmon  at  Cannery  .     . 298 

115.  Butchering  Salmon 299 

116.  Filling  Cans , 300 

117.  Shipping  Department  of  a  Salmon-Canning  Establishment      .  301 

118.  Oyster  Tonger  fishing  from  Side  of  Boat,  Chesapeake  Bay      .  302 

119.  "  Boarding  "  Tongs  in  Chesapeake  Bay 303 

120.  Dredgers  used  in  Sailing  Craft,  Baltimore,  Maryland    .     .     .  304 

121.  "Shucking"  Oysters,  Oyster  House,  Baltimore,  Maryland      .  305 

122.  Waste-Shell  Piles  at  Oyster  House,  Baltimore,  Maryland  .     .  306 

123.  Capture  of  a  Sperm  Whale 308 

124.  Sperm  Whaling  off  the  Hawaiian  Islands     . 309 

125.  Arctic  Whalebone  ready  for  Market 310 


SONG  OF  LABOR 

I  love  the  plowman's  whistle, 

The  reaper's  cheerful  song, 
The  drover's  oft  repeated  shout 

Spurring  his  stock  along  ; 
The  bustle  of  the  market  man 

As  he  hies  him  to  the  town  ; 
The  halloo  from  the  tree  top 

As  the  ripened  fruit  comes  down. 
The  busy  sound  of  threshers 

As  they  clean  the  ripened  grain, 
The  huskers'  joke  and  catch  of  glee 

'Neath  the  moonlight  on  the  plain. 
The  kind  voice  of  the  drayman, 

The  shepherd's  gentle  call,  — 
These  sounds  of  pleasant  industry 

I  love  —  I  love  them  all. 

Oh,  there  's  a  good  in  labor, 

If  we  labor  but  aright, 
That  gives  vigor  to  the  daytime, 

A  sweeter  sleep  at  night ; 
A  good  that  bringeth  pleasure 

Even  to  the  toiling  hours, 
For  duty  cheers  the  spirit, 

As  dew  revives  the  flowers. 
Then  say  not  that  our  Father 

Gave  labor  as  a  doom,  — 
No  !  't  is  the  richest  blessing 

From  the  cradle  to  the  tomb. 


xii 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTION 

Our  smoky  cities,  ablaze  with  light  from  blast  furnaces 
or  alive  with  the  noise  and  whir  of  factories  in  which 
thousands  of'  operatives  spend  their  days,  would  seem 
strange  and  almost  frightful  to  the  people  who  lived  a 
hundred  years  ago.  The  streets  filled  with  swift  cars,  the 
hundreds  of  locomotives  puffing  and  wheezing,  and  the 
crowded  stores  are  as  different  as  can  be  imagined  from 
the  quiet  villages  in  which  our  ancestors  lived,  where  they 
made  their  own  clothes  and  shoes,  and  raised  on  the  farm 
nearly  all  their  food.  If  a  trip  to  a  near-by  town  was 
planned,  they  walked  thither,  or  jogged  along  behind  the 
sober  farm  horse,  instead  of  flying  along  in  steam  or 
electric  cars. 

To-day  factories,  furnaces,  foundries,  street  cars,  and 
railway  stations  are  familiar  sights.  Indeed,  we  should 
miss  them  if  they  were  dropped  out  of  our  lives.  It 
would  seem  hard  to  us  to  have  to  spin  and  weave  our 
own  dull-colored  clothes,  instead  of  going  to  the  store  and 
selecting  from  the  product  of  a  thousand  looms  the  pretty 
colors  which  we  like  best. 

We  should  find  it  inconvenient  to  wait  for  the  village 
cobbler  to  come  and  measure  our  foot,  and  then  make  for 

1 


2  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

us,  in  his  own  little  shop,  a  pair  of  clumsy  shoes.  How 
much  better  it  is  to  step  into  a  store  and  buy  a  pair  of 
well-fitting  shoes,  the  work  of  some  great  factory  in  which 
thousands  of  pairs  are  turned  out  each  day. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  experiment,  but  not  an  easy 
one,  to  try  for  a  time  to  live  an  entirely  independent  life, 
and  to  do  for  ourselves  everything  necessary.  In  order  to 
have  flour,  milk,  butter,  and  meat,  we  should  have  to  live 
on  a  farm,  where  we  could  have  land  for  raising  grain,  and 
pasture  for  cattle.  We  should  need  sheep,  for  their  wool 
would  be  necessary  to  furnish  material  for  our  winter 
clothing.  There  must  also  be  cotton  or  flax  fields  to 
supply  the  fiber  for  thin  summer  clothes.  A  vegetable 
garden  and  fruit  orchard  would  be  necessary  if  we  were 
to  have  these  wholesome  foods. 

Think,  too,  of  the  things  which  seem  necessary  in  our 
everyday  life  that  we  have  not  mentioned,  and  of  the 
work  which  would  need  to  be  done  in  order  to  obtain 
these  necessities,  if  indeed  we  could  get  them  at  all. 
Lumber  for  the  house,  glass  for  windows,  dishes  to  eat 
from,  stoves  to  cook  with,  lamps  by  which  to  see  and  the 
oil  to  use  in  them,  and  many  other  things  which  seem  so 
necessary  to  us  must  all  be  provided. 

When  we  think  of  the  things  not  absolutely  necessary 
but  which  help  to  make  our  lives  pleasant  and  comfortable, 
there  are  so  many  that  I  am  sure  you  would  not  like  to 
try  the  experiment  of  getting  or  making  enough  for  your 
own  use.  Think  of  tea,  coffee,  chocolate,  salt,  oranges, 
bananas,  olives,  medicines,  silk,  ribbons,  feathers,  and 
watches  or  clocks.  What  a  great  variety  of  things  there 
are  which  one  cannot  possibly  make  for  one's  self,  or  get 


INTRODUCTION  3 

by  one's  own  unaided  efforts.  To  supply  all  these  things 
our  farm  would  have  to  be  of  enormous  dimensions,  large 
enough  to  stretch  from  the  torrid  zone  to  the  cool  tem- 
perate zone. 

Even  if  it  were  possible  to  raise  all  necessary  products 
on  one  farm,  the  hours  would  be  so  fully  occupied  in  mak- 
ing them  ready  for  use  that  little  or  no  time  would  be  left 
for  books,  music,  and  games.  But  stop  a  moment !  If  you 
are  to  depend  entirely  on  yourself,  you  will  have  no  inter- 
esting books  unless  you  write  them,  no  beautiful  music 
unless  you  compose  it,  no  amusing  games  unless  you  in- 
vent them.  Is  not  the  division  of  labor,  in  which  each  one 
does  a  few  things  well,  better  than  if  each  one  lived  inde- 
pendently and  tried  to  do  everything  for  himself  ? 

How  is  it  possible  that  the  many  comforts  of  life  are 
brought  to  our  doors  and  are  to  be  had  at  such  small 
cost  ?  The  story  is  long  if  one  were  to  tell  it  all,  and  as 
wonderful  as  a  fairy  tale.  Indeed,  the  riches  and  gems 
that  Aladdin  found  in  that  mysterious  cave  are  no  more 
wonderful  nor  precious  than  the  riches  we  have  found  in 
the  soil  and  rocks  of  our  country. 

The  comforts  which  we  enjoy  to-day  are  made  possible 
largely  because  of  the  fertility  of  soil  and  the  wealth  of  our 
mineral  resources.  Wherever  there  is  a  fertile  soil  and  a 
favorable  climate,  people  are  certain  to  settle,  sure  of  find- 
ing a  comfortable  living. 

In  a  new  settlement,  trade  with  other  localities  soon  be- 
gins, for  the  pioneers  must  exchange  the  home  products  for 
necessities  and  comforts  from  distant  places.  In  order  to 
carry  the  merchandise,  railroads  and  ships  are  built.  As 
communication  becomes  easy  and  freight  charges  become 


4  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

low,  more  people  are  attracted  to  the  place,  and  the  settle- 
ment grows.  The  opening  up  of  our  great  West  is  a  good 
illustration  of  the  dependence  of  people  upon  the  land  and 
its  products,  and  the  help  which  railroads  furnish  in  the 
development  of  a  country. 

Attracted  to  the  far  West  first  by  the  discovery  of  gold, 
people  soon  learned  what  a  wonderful  country  stretches 
from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  They  found 
that  the  soil  might  yield  them  even  greater  profits  than  the 
mineral  wealth  which  men  were  flocking  to  obtain.  The 
raising  of  cattle,  grain,  and  fruit  was  started  in  a  small  way 
at  first,  but  was  gradually  enlarged  as  the  railroads  grew 
in  number  and  extent,  and  out-of-the-way  places  were 
brought  into  touch  with  civilization  and  commerce.  New 
land  was  settled  as  the  people  were  made  sure  of  markets 
hi  which  to  sell  their  produce.  The  cities  sent  clothing, 
tools,  machinery,  furniture,  and  food  to  the  small  towns 
and  farms  and  ranches.  Cattle  and  wool,  grains  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  fruit,  and  cotton  began  to  come  to  the  cities 
in  greater  and  greater  quantities,  until  the  question  of 
ho\v  to  transport  these  products,  what  was  the  easiest  and 
quickest  way  to  get  them  to  the  manufacturing  centers, 
became  all-important. 

Irrigation,  new  and  improved  methods  of  farming,  and 
discoveries  of  great  mineral  wealth  have  so  increased  our 
products  that  to-day  the  amount  of  production  is  limited  not 
1)\  the  soil  but,  strange  to  say,  by  the  railroads  and  other 
means  of  transportation.  Immense  quantities  of  live  stock, 
beef,  wool,  grain,  fruits,  copper,  gold,  and  silver  are  sent 
from  the  West  to  the  Hast.  Thousands  of  carloads  of 
manufactured  goods,  such  as  clothing,  boots  and  si  iocs. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

tools  and  machinery,  must  be  sent  in  return  by  the  East 
to  the  newer  West. 

China  and  Japan  are  awakening  to  the  fact  that  we  are 
their  near  neighbors,  and  trade  with  both  countries  is  grow- 
ing rapidly.  Formerly  goods  for  Asiatic  countries  were 
sent  on  the  long  voyage  around  South  America,  or  by  train 
to  our  Pacific  ports,  to  be  there  reloaded  for  the  ocean 
voyage.  A  third  route  lay  by  water  to  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama, by  train  across  the  isthmus,  and  then  by.  vessel  across 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  always  more  expensive  to  send 
goods  by  land  than  by  water,  and  the  time  and  labor  spent 
in  unloading  and  reloading  freight  add  to  the  cost.  If  goods 
can  be  sent  across  the  Pacific  without  unloading,  you  can 
see  what  an  advantage  it  would  be  ;  and  this  will  be  possible 
from  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  from  the  Pacific  ports,  when 
the  Panama  Canal  is  completed. 

You  will  learn  in  another  chapter  more  about  this  and 
other  canals,  and  also  about  the  great  railroads  which  cross 
our  country,  and  which  have  made  our  trade  and  therefore 
our  wealth  and  development  possible. 

Much  of  the  wealth  of  the  West  lies  in  the  products  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken,  the  gold,  silver,  copper, 
cattle,  sheep,  grain,  fruit,  and  lumber.  Cotton  and  sugar, 
lumber  and  iron,  have  enabled  the  South  to  grow  to  her 
present  state  of  development.  The  Great  Plain  finds  its 
gold  in  the  yellow  corn  and  its  silver  in  the  snowy  flour. 
Our  mountain  products  are  well  balanced :  coal  and  iron  in 
the  Appalachians,  and  gold  and  silver  in  the  great  Western 
highland.  The  following  chapters  describe  these  products, 
the  physical  conditions  upon  which  they  depend,  and  the 
industries  connected  with  them. 


CHAPTER  II 

POSITION    AND   SIZE 

Most  of  the  chapters  hi  this  book  describe  great  industries 
which  are  carried  on  in  the  United  States.  The  growth  and 
development  of  the  country,  its  rank  among  other  nations, 
and  its  wealth  and  power  are  due  largely  to  these  industries. 
They  in  turn  depend  on  certain  causes.  The  position,  sur- 
face, coast  line,  climate,  drainage,  and  soil  have  been  the 
factors  which  have  determined  to  a  great  extent  just  what 
varieties  of  work  the  people  shall  engage  in.  Therefore  be- 
fore studying  the  industries  themselves  let  us  look  at  some 
of  these  underlying  causes. 

The  position  of  the  United  States  is  very  favorable.  It 
lies  in  the  path  of  the  westerly  winds,  which  bring  to  certain 
sections  the  moisture  and  even  temperature  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  wonderful  effect  of  these  winds  on  temperature, 
rainfall,  and  therefore  on  vegetation,  will  be  told  in  the  chap- 
ter on  Climate.  It  lies  not  too  far  north,  where  little  vege- 
tation is  possible ;  nor  too  far  south,  where  the  climate  is 
so  warm  that  people  have  little  ambition  to  work,  and  where 
there  is  little  necessity  for  it,  as  nature  produces  abundantly 
without  man's  aid. 

The  country  stretches  through  more  than  twenty  degrees 
of  latitude,  extending  from  the  warm  temperate  belt  in 
which  cotton  and  sugar  cane  flourish,  through  cooler  regions 
where  corn  and  tobacco  grow,  to  a  cool  temperate  climate 
well  suited  to  the  production  of  wheat. 


POSITION  AND  SIZE 


8  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Let  us  think  of  our  position  with  reference  to  other 
nations.  To  the  north  of  us  is  Canada  and  to  the  south 
Mexico,  friendly  countries  both,  and  because  of  their  posi- 
tion able  to  furnish  us  with  some  products  which  are  not 
found  to  any  great  extent  in  our  own  country. 

Our  eastern  border  is  about  three  thousand  miles  from 
Europe,  a  great  distance  in  the  early  colonial  days  when 
but  few  vessels,  and  those  slow  ones,  crossed  the  ocean. 
The  colonists  were  obliged  to  depend  on  themselves  for 
many  articles  which,  had  they  lived  nearer  Europe,  would 
have  been  supplied  by  the  mother  country,  and  thus  manu- 
facturing soon  became  an  important  industry.  As  more 
and  larger  vessels  have  been  built,  the  Atlantic  seems  to 
have  grown  smaller,  for  to-day  we  are  less  than  a  five  days' 
journey  from  England.  Hundreds  of  vessels  cross  this 
ocean,  carrying  our  exports  to  European  countries  and  bring- 
ing to  us  their  products. 

The  great  ocean  mass  in  the  midst  of  which  North  and 
South  America  lie  stretches  away  to  the  west  of  us  for  five 
thousand  miles.  For  many  years  after  the  Atlantic  was 
crossed  the  Pacific  was  still  unexplored.  But  to-day  many 
steamships  plow  its  waters,  connecting  ns  with  Japan,  China, 
and  the  neighboring  islands;  and  great  cables,  over  which 
messages  may  be  sent,  lie  in  its  depths. 

Thus  the  United  States  is  so  situated  that  we  are  con- 
nected by  these  ocean  highways  with  Europe  on  the  east 
and  Asia  on  the  west.  Can  you  imagine  our  country  a  great 
eagle  with  one  outspread  wing  touching  Europe  and  the 
other  stretching  over  the  Pacific  Ocean  toward  Asia?  That 
is  just  what;  our  wings  of  commerce  are  doing,  connecting 
us  with  both  eastern  and  western  nations. 


POSITION    AM)  SIZE  9 

You  have  probably  repeated,  or  have  heard  others  repeat, 
that  stirring  oath  of  fidelity,  "  I  pledge  allegiance  to  my 
flag  and  to  the  republic  for  which  it  stands ;  one  nation  in- 
divisible, with  liberty  and  justice  for  all."  Have  you  ever 
thought  what  an  immense  territory  is  the  home  of  that  re- 
public ?  The  United  States  is  but  little  smaller  than  Europe, 
yet  in  that  continent  there  are  more  than  a  dozen  nations, 


FIG.  2.    HARVESTING   WHEAT 
Notice  size  of  field 

each  with  its  own  flag,  its  government,  its  laws.  Each 
country  is  surrounded  by  others  which  may  or  may  not 
contain  friendly  peoples.  Each  nation  must  therefore  main- 
tain a  large  army  and  be  prepared  at  any  time  to  defend 
itself.  All  this  costs  an  immense  amount  of  money  which 
must  be  furnished  by  heavy  taxation  of  the  people.  Thou- 
sands of  men  serve  in  the  army  whose  labor  is  needed  in 
fields  and  factories.  What  an  advantage  it  is  to  us  that  we 
are  separated  by  the  ocean  from  all  these  nations,  that  we 
have  few  troublesome  neighbors,  and  that  we  are  all  one 
big  family  with  one  ruler  and  one  Mag! 


10  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Our  great  wheat  section  embraces  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  square  miles,  nearly  one  fourth  of  the  area 
of  the  whole  country,  and  our  corn  lands  are  even  larger. 
We  can  ride  for  miles  and  miles  over  cattle  and  sheep 
ranches,  or  spend  days  in  traveling  through  our  cotton 
belt.  You  can  easily  see  that  the  amount  of  our  products 
depends  somewhat  on  the  great  size  of  the  country. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 

1.  Find  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  United  States. 

2.  Name  the  advantages  of  its  position. 

3.  Are  there  any  disadvantages  ? 

4.  Compare  its  size  with  that  of  large  countries  on  other  continents. 

5.  What  is  its  area?   How  does  Europe  compare  in  area? 

6.  Leaving  out  which  country  of  Europe  would  make  them  about 
equal  ? 

7.  To   how  many  of  the  following  questions  can   you  find  the 
answers? 

8.  Name  some  of  the  important  European  steamship  lines.    Trace 
the  routes  they  follow  and  find  the  destinations.    What  is  the  name 
of  the  largest  steamer?    How  fast  can  she  travel?    How  many  pas- 
sengers can  she  carry  ?    How  many  men  are  in  her  crew  ?    How  much 
coal  does  she  use  on  one  trip?    What  forms  a  large  amount  of  the 
freight  carried  from  the  United  States  to  Europe?    from  Europe  to 
the  United  States? 


CHAPTER   III 
SURFACE   AND   DRAINAGE 

You  have  read  in  the  preceding  chapter  how  the  position 
and  size  of  the  United  States  aid  in  determining  the  kind 
and  amount  of  its  products.  These  depend  also  on  other 
causes,  among  which  are  the  surface  and  drainage  conditions. 

The  United  States  consists  of  several  great  surface  divi- 
sions. The  low,  level  Coastal  Plain  extends  along  the  At- 
lantic and  Gulf  coasts.  Then  comes  the  old  Appalachian 
Highland,  its  peaks  worn  down  through  long  ages  by  frost, 
rain,  streams,  and  other  agents  into  rounded,  domelike  ele- 
vations. The  great  Rocky  Mountain  Highland  stretches 
through  the  West.  This  is  a  much  younger  system  with 
higher  peaks  of  sharp,  jagged  outline.  Between  these  two 
highlands  lies  the  Great  Central  Plain,  through  which  flows 
the  "  Father  of  Waters,"  the  Mississippi  River,  and  its 
branches. 

The  Coastal  Plain  extends  from  New  York  the  length  of 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  along  the  Gulf  coast  into  Mexico. 
The  part  bordering  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean  was  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years  the  home  of  the  early  colonists,  to 
whom  the  mountainous  region  to  the  west  was  an  impassable 
barrier.  Much  of  the  soil  of  which  it  is  composed  is  the 
wash  from  the  highlands  farther  inland.  This  was  deposited 
under  the  ocean  waters,  and  by  the  accumulation  of  the  soil 
itself,  and  by  the  slow,  upward  movement  of  the  earth's 
crust,  in  time  the  land  rose  above  the  surface  of  the  water. 

ll 


12 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Copyright,  IS'.'S,  by  A.  E.  Fryc 

Fi<;.  8.    DIVISIONS  OF  THE  APPALACHIAN    HK.III.ANI> 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  13 

A  later  sinking  of  the  earth's  crust  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
carried  some  of  the  outer  edge  of  the  plain  under  the  ocean 
again.  The  drowning  of  the  rivers  in  the  lower  part  of  their 
courses  made  their  mouths  broader  and  deeper.  Conse- 
quently we  find  in  these  "  drowned  valleys  "  good  bays  and 
harbors,  which  have  had  great  influence  in  developing  the 
commerce  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  country. 

In  the  soil  of  the  Coastal  Plain  there  is  much  sand  and 
clay,  and  in  some  places  this  is  utilized  in  the  making  of 
glass  and  bricks.  .  On  the  Carolina  and  Georgia  plains  are 
pine  forests  which  furnish  tar  and  turpentine.  You  will 
read  of  these  products  in  another  chapter.  The  low,  moist 
sections  near  the  coasts  are  the  most  favorable  regions  for 
the  raising  of  rice ;  and  you  will  find,  when  studying  the 
chapters  on  Cotton  and  Sugar,  that  on  this  level  area  is 
grown  all  the  sugar  and  much  of  the  cotton  which  the 
country  produces. 

Passing  from  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  westward  we 
come  to  the  Piedmont  Belt.  This  name,  which  means  "  foot- 
hills," is  given  to  the  strip  of  hilly  land  about  twenty-five 
miles  wide  which  stretches  between  the  true  mountain 
region  on  the  west  and  the  plain  on  the  east.  This  hilly  sec- 
tion is  the  worn-down  remnant  of  very  ancient  mountains. 
Much  of  the  soil  of  which  they  were  composed  now  helps 
to  form  the  Coastal  Plain.  The  rocky  remnant  consists  of 
very  hard  material.  The  rivers  cut  their  way  much  more 
easily  through  the  softer  strata  of  the  plain  than  through 
the  hard  rock  of  the  Piedmont  Belt.  Therefore  where  these 
two  sections  meet  there  are  falls  or  rapids  in  the  rivers. 
Find  the  names  of  some  rivers  of  which  you  think  this  is 
true.  These  falls  mark  the  head  of  navigation,  and  also 


Fi<;.  4.    THE  FALL  LINK 

Notice  the  trend  of  the  rivers  across  the  mountains 
14 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  15 

furnish  water  power  for  manufacturing.  You  will  find  on 
the  map  on  page  14  some  of  the  important  cities  which  are 
situated  upon  the  fall  line.  They  owe  their  importance  to 
their  manufactures  and  to  the  fact  that  they  serve  as  distrib- 
uting centers  for  the  surrounding  region.  Can  you  explain 
how  both  of  these  industries  are  due  to  the  location  ? 

The  soil  of  the  Piedmont  Belt  is  for  the  most  part  fertile. 
In  many  towns  situated  near  large  cities  the  people  are 
engaged  in  raising  fruits  and  vegetables  for  the  city  supply. 
The  important  tobacco-growing  area  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  lies  chiefly  in  this  section,  and  much  of  the  up- 
land cotton  is  grown  in  the  Piedmont  Belt.  When  you 
read  the  chapter  on  Fruit,  notice  what  fruits  are  mentioned 
as  being  raised  there. 

Crossing  the  Piedmont  Belt  we  come  to  the. true  Appa- 
lachian Mountains.  These  extend  in  several  ridges  and 
ranges  from  New  England  to  Alabama.  The  Blue  Ridge, 
which  you  will  find  given  on  tlio  map,  Fig.  3,  LS  the 
principal  chain.  Mt.  Mitchell  in  North  Carolina  is  the 
highest  peak  of  the  Appalachians.  Look  at  the  pictures 
and  you  will  see  how  rounded  are  the  summits  of  these 
mountains,  and  how  broad  the  valleys.  Contrast  this  pic- 
ture with  the  one  which  shows  the  sharp  peaks  of  the 
Rockies. 

The  Green  Mountains  in  Vermont,  the  White  Mountains 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  the  Adironclacks  in  New  York  are 
each  a  part  of  the  Appalachian  System,  but  are  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  highland  by  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson 
and  Mohawk  rivers.  This  is  the  most  important  opening 
through  the  mountains,  and  from  early  colonial  times  it 
has  served  as  a  highway  to  the  interior  of  the  country. 


16  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIED 

The  next  division  of  the  Appalachian  Highland  is  the 
Great  Valley.  Although  this  name  is  given  to  the  whole 
section,  it  is  really  a  succession  of  valleys  separated  by  low 
ridges  of  mountains.  The  Shenandoah  Valley  in  Virginia  and 
the  Tennessee  Valley  in  Tennessee  are  very  fertile  sections. 

The  most  westerly  division  of  the  whole  highland  is  the 
Allegheny  Plateau.  This  is  called  a  plateau  because  the 
strata  lie  horizontally  instead  of  being  wrinkled  and  crum- 
pled as  in  true  mountain  formation.  The  rivers  have  worn 
down  and  intersected  this  plateau  until  to  the  'eye  of  the 
ordinary  observer  it  appears  like  a  mountainous  region. 
The  Catskill  Mountains  in  New  York  are  a  part  of  the 
plateau,  though  from  their  appearance  they  are  commonly 
called  mountains. 

This  great  Appalachian  Highland,  consisting  of  moun- 
tains, valleys,  and  plateau  region,  was  the  barrier  which 
confined  the  colonists  to  the  narrow  Coastal  Plain.  The 
height  (though  not  great  compared  with  that  of  the  Rock- 
ies), the  wild  animals,  the  Indians,  and  the  dense  forest 
growth  all  served  for  a  long  time  to  keep  even  the  most 
daring  from  venturing  far.  Stories  told  by  the  Indians  of 
the  rich  lands  to  the  west  finally  incited  the  hardy  pioneers 
to  brave  the  dangers.  Rivers  and  smaller  streams  were  then 
the  only  highways.  Following  these  the  settlers  came,  after 
weeks  of  hard  travel,  into  the  rich  lands  west  of  the  moun- 
tains, in  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Tennessee. 

If  we  search  for  these  routes  which  the  pioneers  took, 
and  which  the  railroads  to-day  follow,  we  must  know  some- 
tliing  of  the  rivers  of  the.  region.  If  you  look  at  a  relief 
map  you  will  see  that  most  of  the  streams  flow  aeross  the 
mountains  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  the  highland. 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE 


17 


Notice,  for  example,  the  Susquehanna,  the  Potomac,  the 
James,  and  the  Rappahannock.  The  rivers,  which  have 
thus  cut  their  way  through  the  Appalachians,  are  older 
than  the  highland  and  flowed  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
toward  the  Atlantic  Ocean  before  the  mountains  were 


FIG.  5.    DELAWARE  WATER  GAP 

formed.  The  growth  of  these  mountains  was  so  very  grad- 
ual that  the  streams  were  able  to  cut  down  their  channels 
as  fast  as  the  mountains  were  upheaved.  As  a  consequence 
some  of  the  rivers  flow  through  narrow  passes  or  gaps. 
The  Delaware  at  Delaware  Gap,  and  the  Potomac  at  Har- 
pers Ferry  are  perhaps  the  best  known  examples. 


18  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

There  are  five  great  natural  highways  from  the  Atlantic 
Plain  to  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Beginning  at  the  north  we 
find  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  the  Great  Lakes.  This 
was  the  route  followed  by  the  French  in  their  explorations. 
Next  comes  the  Hudson-Mohawk  Valley,  which  was  one  of 
the  chief  highways  both  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  and 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Farther  south  we  find  a  route 
which  takes  us  up  the  Potomac  River,  through  the  historic 
Harpers  Ferry  and  thence  by  the  Ohio  and  its  branches  to 
the  fertile  West. 

In  Arirginia  a  familiar  route  for  the  colonists  lay  through 
the  gap  of  the  James  River  into  the  long  valley  west  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  Thence  by  following  some  stream 
they  found  their  way  over  the  Allegheny  Plateau  and  to 
the  West  through  Cumberland  Gap,  made  famous  by  Daniel 
Hoone,  who  traveled  through  this  pass  on  his  first  journey 
to  the-  unsettled  regions  of  eastern  Kentucky. 

A  fifth  route  lay  south  of  the  mountains  through  north- 
ern Georgia.  Though  comparatively  easy,  it  was  little  used 
by  the  colonists  on  account  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  who, 
under  Spanish  influence,  barred  the  way. 

Find  these  routes  on  the  accompanying  map.  Trace  and 
sketch  them  until  you  are  perfectly  familiar  with  their 
location.  This  is  important,  for  these  natural  highways, 
caused  by  the  drainage  system  of  this  section  of  the  United 
States,  were  the  chief  roads  of  the  Indians  and  later  of  the 
pioneers.  Arid  what  is  more  important  to  us,  they  have  be- 
come in  more  recent  years  the  routes  followed  by  the  rail- 
roads which  connect  the  coast  with  the  interior.  And  the 
railroad  which  has  found  the  lowest  pass  through  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  easiest  grade  over  which  to  draw  its  freight, 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  19 

has  a  great  advantage  over  its  rivals.    Can  you  find  out 
which  one  that  is  ? 

It  is  in  these  old,  worn -down  Appalachian  Mountains 
that  most  of  our  coal  and  much  of  our  iron  are  found.  The 
fact  that  these  valuable  minerals  are  found  there  in  such 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co'. 

FIG.  6.    A  FEW  MILES  FROM  ORANGES  TO  SNOW 

great  quantities  and  so  near  together  has  determined  the 
position  of  many  manufacturing  cities,  of  which  more  will 
be  said  in  the  following  chapters. 

The  highland  in  the  western  part  of  the  United  States  is  a 
great  contrast  to  the  one  in  the  East.    In  the  Appalachian 


20  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Mountains  we  find  beautiful  wooded  summits  rounded  and 
worn  down  through  long  ages,  fertile  valleys  green  with  the 
crops  of  small  farms  thickly  set,  and  rivers  winding  their 
way  through  broad  valleys  between  sloping  mountain  sides. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  7.    "OLD  FAITHFUL"  GEYSER 

How  different  are  the  wonders  of  the  Rockies !  There  can 
be  found  some  of  the  highest  elevations  of  the  country,  tow- 
ering peaks  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  feet  high.  There  also 
are  the  lowest  depressions,  three  hundred  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  sea;  there  are  the  greatest  deserts  and  the 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  21 

richest  farm  lands.  In  that  western  area  can  be  found  the 
hottest  place  in  the  United  States,  and  while  suffering 
from  the  intense  heat  one  can  see  the  glistening  snows  on 
the  heights  far  above.  In  those  snow-clad  mountains  are 
the  sources  of  our  longest  rivers,  yet  there  are  hundreds  of 
square  miles  traversed  by  no  rivers  at  all.  There  are  regions 
where  one  gazes  in  wonder  at  the  largest  trees  in  the  world, 
and  vast  areas  where  no  green  tree  or  shrub  relieves  the  gray 
surface  of  the  desert.  There,  also,  more  than  in  any  other 
area  of  equal  extent  in  the  world,  can  be  found  the  most 
wonderful  collection  of  glaciers,  volcanoes,  geysers,  hot 
springs,  salt  lakes,  and  carious. 

Let  us  look  at  the  arrangement  of  the  mountains,  valleys, 
and  deserts  which  make  up  the  western  third  of  the  United 
States.  As  one  travels  westward  through  the  great  Central 
Plain  the  land  rises  gradually  during  the  thousand-mile 
journey  which  separates  the  Mississippi  River  from  the  high- 
land. This  gradual  ascent  terminates  in  a  plateau  more 
than  a  mile  in  height  and  a  thousand  miles  wide.  From  its 
surface  rise  ranges  of  mountains  extending  north  and  south. 

Along  the  eastern  edge  of  the  plateau,  highest  of  all,  are 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  stretching  from  the  cold  lands  of  the 
far  North  to  the  tropical  region  of  Central  America.  Though 
reduced  to  low  hills  in  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  the  moun- 
tains rise  again  in  even  greater  grandeur  in  the  Andes 
Mountains  of  South  America,  and  continue  uninterruptedly 
to  the  southern  extremity  of  that  continent.  In  the  United 
States  they  extend  through  Montana,  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
and  New  Mexico. 

On  the  western  edge  of  the  plateau  region  rises  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  Cascade  Range.  The  Sierra  Nevada,  or  "  Snowy 


99 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Fi<;.  b.    DIVISIONS  OF  THK  GREAT  WMSTKKN   HKJHLA 


SrilFACK  AXI)  DRAINA(JK  23 

Range,"  as  the  name  indicates,  has  been  and  is  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  the  country.  It  was  in  these  mountains 
that  gold  was  first  discovered  in  California ;  and  it  was  to 
find  the  hidden  riches  that  the  great  rush  to  the  West,  which 
is  described  in  the  chapter  on  Gold,  was  begun  in  '49. 
Many,  however,  who  went  to  find  gold,  remained  because 
of  the  riches  yielded  by  the  fertile  soil.  Many  cities  and 
towns  which  nestle  close  to  the  mountains  owe  their  birth 
to  the  mineral  resources,  but  their  wealth  to-day  comes  not 
so  much  from  the  gold  which  is  mined  as  from  the  rich 
farms  where  fruit,  wheat,  and  cattle  are  raised. 

North  of  Mt.  Shasta  in  northern  California  the  range 
takes  the  name  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  from  the  numer- 
ous cascades  and  falls  in  the  Columbia  River  where  it  works 
its  way  through  the  highland.  This  range  consists  chiefly 
of  extinct  volcanoes,  of  which  Mt.  Shasta  is  the  most  noted. 
It  is  a  grand  sight  as  it  rises  tall  and  snow-capped  from  the 
dark  forest  area  which  surrounds  it. 

Between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  mountains  on 
the  west  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  east  lies  the 
Great  Basin,  so  named  because  it  is  hemmed  in  by  great 
ridges  on  either  side.  The  name  must  not  deceive  one,  how- 
ever, for  the  Great  Basin  is  not  a  lowland,  though. parts  of  it 
lie  below  the  sea  level.  The  greater  portion  of  it  is  a  high 
plateau  crossed  by  ranges  of  mountains.  The  Great  Salt 
Lake  and  many  smaller  lakes  lie  within  its  boundaries. 
There  are  also  vast  gray  stretches  of  barren  land,  where 
one  may  ride  for  miles  without  seeing  a  shrub  or  a  tree ; 
there  the  rivers  never  flow  to  the  ocean,  but  lose  them- 
selves in  depressions  or  "  sinks,"  the  remains  of  much 
larger  lakes. 


24 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Travel  through  the  Great  Basin  is  very  unpleasant.  In 
summer  the  heat  is  intense,  ranging  from  one  hundred  ten 
to  one  hundred  twenty  degrees.  But  the  air  is  pure  and  dry, 
and  even  in  the  great  heat  sunstrokes  are  almost  unknown. 


From  Stereograph  Copyright,  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

Fi(i.  9.    MT.  SHASTA 


If  a  traveler  should  try  to  quench  his  thirst  with  water 
from  the  rivers,  he  would  find  it  brackish  and  disagreeable. 
Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  find  water,  even  it'  the  river 
l>e<l  lay  riju'lit  in  his  path,  for  few  streams  last  through  (lie 


SIRFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  25 

year.  When  the  snows  melt  on  the  mountains,  the  channels 
are  filled  with  rushing  torrents,  and  lakes  can  be  seen  dot- 
ting the  landscape.  But  a  few  weeks  afterward,  dry  hollows 
mark  the  places  where  the  waters  of  the  lakes  shone,  and  a 
gully  of  rocks  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  riv.er. 

The  Humboldt  River  is  the  largest  stream  of  the  Great 
Basin.  Its  brackish  waters  flow  for  three  hundred  fifty 
miles  through  tins  uninviting  country,  finally  reaching 
Humboldt  Lake,  the  largest  of  the  deep  depressions  or  sinks 
which  are  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  basin. 

Yet  we  should  be  doing  the  country  a  great  injustice  if 
we  were  to  picture  it  all  as  a  useless  desert.  The  water 
which  would  run  to  waste  when  the  mountain  snows  melt  is 
now  being  stored  in  huge  reservoirs  and  is  used  to  irrigate 
the  land.  Thousands  of  acres  in  this  vast  area  have  been 
thus  reclaimed ;  and  the  government  is  carrying  out  other 
projects  also,  which,  when  finished,  will  make  farming  pos- 
sible in  regions  where  to-day  only  the  cactus  grows.  In 
certain  sections  salt,  which  has  remained  in  the  dry  beds  of 
ancient  lakes,  is  being  shoveled  up  by  the  carload,  and  well 
repays  the  owner  of  the  land.  Borax  and  sulphur  also  are 
obtained  in  considerable  quantities.  So  you  see  that  the 
surface  and  soil  of  the  desert,  as  well  as  of  the  fertile  farm 
lands,  determine  the  products. 

South  of  the  Great  Basin  lies  the  Colorado  Plateau, 
named  for  the  river,  which  by  ceaseless  work  through  long 
ages  has  made  for  itself  a  wonderful  canon  bed. 

North  of  the  Great  Basin  is  the  Columbia  Plateau,  a  lava 
region,  probably  the  largest  area  in  the  world  which  is  cov- 
ered so  completely  and  so  deeply  by  the  flow  from  ancient 
volcanoes.  This  area  includes  much  of  Washington,  Oregon, 


26  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

and  Idaho.  Through  many  centuries  it  has  crumbled  into 
a  fertile  soil,  which,  with  the  moist  winds  from  the  Pacific, 
has  made  possible  the  great  wheat  farms  and  the  forests  of 
dark  firs  for  which  these  states  are  noted. 

If  you  look  at  Fig.  8,  you  will  see  that  a  low  range, 
called  the  Coast  Mountains,  skirts  the  western  border  of 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  California.  The  valley  lying 
between  this  range  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade 
mountains  is  very  fertile.  The  soil  washed  down  from 
the  highlands  and  the  moisture  brought  by  the  westerly 
winds  help  to  make  it  one  of  nature's  gardens.  You  will 
read  more  of  its  wonderful  fertility  in  the  chapter  on  Fruit. 

As  the  rivers  in  this  section  afford  some  of  the  grandest 
scenery  in  the  world,  and  as  they  differ  from  the  streams 
in  the  East  and  the  South,  let  us  notice  some  of  their 
characteristics. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountains  rise  some  of  the  longest  rivers - 
in  the  country,  the  Columbia,  Colorado,  Rio  Grande,  Ar- 
kansas, Missouri,  and  others.  The  great  water  systems  of 
the  East  —  the  Mississippi,  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Hudson- 
Mohawk,  and  others  —  were  the  means  by  which  that  part 
of  the  country  was  explored  and  developed.  In  the  West, 
however,  the  railroad  early  became  the  commercial  agent, 
and  many  cities  and  towns  owe  their  development  to 
that  factor  rather  than  to  the  rivers,  many  of  which  are 
unnavigable. 

The  crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  the  great  divide  of 
the  country.  It  scuds  some  rivers,  as  the  Missouri  and  the 
Arkansas,  to  join  the  Mississippi  and  thence  to  continue 
their  journey  through  level  plains  and  fertile  valleys  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  Others,  like  the  Columbia  and  Snake 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE 


27 


rivers,  find  their  way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  over  the  greatest 
lava  plains  of  the  world.  The  Colorado,  most  wonderful  of 
them  all,  works  its  way  to  the  sea  from  its  source  in  the 
melting  snows  of  the  Rockies  through  a  high  plateau  in 
which  it  has  cut  a  canon  two 
hundred  miles  long  and,  for 
a  part  of  that  distance,  a  mile 
deep.  Few  rivers  join  it  in 
its  lonely  journey  through 
the  desert ;  indeed,  in  all  the 
world  no  other  river  of  its 
size,  except  the  Nile,  flows  for 
so  great  a  distance  without 
a  tributary.  It  is  a  dashing, 
foaming,  impetuous  stream, 
many  hundred  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  land,  held  in 
its  place  by  vertical  walls  of 
rock.  No  life-giving  water 
refreshes  the  parched  land 
around,  and  one  might  per- 
ish of  thirst  within  sight  of 
its  waters.  No  boats  float 
down  its  surface  bringing 
the  people  along  its  banks  FIG.  10.  RAILROADS  OFTEN  FOL- 
into  closer  communication.  LOW  RlVER  VALLEYS 

One  might  stand  on  one  side  of  the  mighty  cafion  and 
see  home  and  friends  on  the  opposite  side  eight  or  ten 
miles  away,  and  yet  find  crossing  impossible.  Instead, 
the  wanderer  would  have  to  journey  hundreds  of  miles 
before  he  could  cross  to  the  other  bank.  There  are 


28  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

hundreds  of  canons  in  this  part  of  the  country,  yet  none 
can  compare  with  that  of  the  Colorado. 

The  section  of  the  United  States  which  most  vitally  con- 
cerns us  is  the  Central  Plain,  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  Within  this  plain  lie  twenty-two  states,  covering 
nearly  one  half  the  area  of  the  entire  country,  a  region  large 
enough  to  include  all  the  countries  of  Europe  except  Russia. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  says  of  it :  "  The  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
is  politically  and  commercially  more  important  than  any 
other  valley  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Here,  more  than 
anywhere  else,  will  be  determined  the  future  of  the  United 
States,  and  indeed  of  the  western  world." 

This  great  area,  stretching  from  the  Rockies  to  the  Appa- 
lachians and  from  our  northern  to  our  southern  boundary, 
is  the  "  bread  basket "  of  the  country,  from  which  is  obtained 
most  of  the  food  and  much  of  the  clothing  material  for  our 
eighty  million  people.  The  center  of  our  cotton  lands  to-day 
is  in  Mississippi,  that  of  our  manufacturing  area  in  Ohio,  and 
that  of  our  grain  products  and  our  population  in  Illinois,  all 
lying  in  the  Central  Plain.  As  you  read  in  the  following 
chapters  of  immense  wheat  farms,  of  corn  lands  reaching 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  of  the  greatest  cattle  ranch  in  the 
world,  of  a  cotton  plantation  large  enough  to  need  several 
miles  of  private  railroad  to  reach  its  borders,  remember  that 
all  these  are  made  possible  by  the  size,  surface,  climate,  and 
soil  of  this  wonderful  plain. 

The  "  Misse-Sepe,"  as  the  Indians  used  to  call  it,  is  the 
most  wonderful  river  in  the  world.  And  yet  it  has  no 
mighty  falls  like  that  African  river,  the  Zambesi,  whose 
torrent  falls  over  a  precipice  four  hundred  feet  high,  making 
the  highest  Lnvat  Fall  in  the  world.  Nor  has  it  carved  a 


SURFACE  AND  DRAIN  AGK  29 

mighty  canon  like  the  Colorado  River.  Unlike  the  Rhine, 
i't  has  no  grand  castles  on  its  banks  to  be^visjtcd.  annually 
by  thousands  of  tourists.  Wherein,  then,  do  its  wonders 
consist  ? 

In  the  first  place,  the  river  itself  with  its  largest  branch, 
the  Missouri,  makes  the  longest  river  in  the  world.  It  re- 
ceives the  water  from  more  than  fifty  navigable  rivers,  and 
from  hundreds  of  others  not  navigable.  On  the  navigable 
branches  one  might  sail  for  a  distance  nearly  equal  to  the 
circumference  of  the  earth.  Flowing  as  they  do  through  a 
fertile  soil  and  temperate  climate,  they  afford  more  oppor- 
tunity for  navigation  and  development  than  any  other  sys- 
tem in  the  world. 

The  two  greatest  branches  of  the  Mississippi  are  the  Ohio 
and  the  Missouri,  connecting  the  main  stream  with  the  eastern 
and  western  portions  of  the  great  Central  Plain.  The  Mis- 
souri, hurrying  from  its  source  three  thousand  miles  away, 
pours  every  second  into  the  Mississippi  one  hundred  twenty 
thousand  cubic  feet  of  water.  It  eddies  and  swirls  and 
foams  as  if  in  anger  that  it  cannot  immediately  turn  the  blue 
waters  to  a  color  as  muddy  and  tawny  as  its  own.  But  for 
miles  the  clear  northern  stream  flows  pure  and  blue  beside 
its  yellow  tributary,  until  at  last  their  waters  mingle,  and 
then  as  one  river  they  make  their  way  toward  the  Gulf. 

About  one  hundred  fifty  miles  farther  down  the  Missis- 
sippi we  come  to  its  junction  with  the  Ohio.  This  river 
discharges  more  water  into  the  trunk  stream  than  any  other 
branch,  not  excepting  the  Missouri,  though  that  is  three 
times  as  long  as  the  Ohio.  But  the  Missouri  drains  a  coun- 
try where  the  rainfall  is  very  light,  and  that  which  falls 
soaks  into  the  parched  ground,  or  quickly  evaporates  in  the 


30  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

dry  air.  So  we  are  not  surprised  to  know  that  the  great 
floods  of  the  lower  Mississippi,  which  do  such  damage  to 
shipping  and  farming,  are  due  largely  to  the  rising  of  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio  and  its  branches. 

The  height  of  the  water  in  the  Ohio  often  varies  from 
three  or  four  feet  in  the  dry  season  to  fifty  or  more  in  the 
spring  when  the  snows  melt  on  the  hills  and  mountains. 
The  level  of  the  water  is  regulated  somewhat  by  a  system 
of  dams  and  locks,  which  make  a  kind  of  canal  out  of  the 
river  in  certain  places.  In  this  way  a  level  of  six  feet  has 
been  maintained,  and  plans  are  now  on  foot  to  further  im- 
prove the  navigation  of  this  river  and  render  it  useful  to 
larger  boats. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 

1.  On  an  outline  map  show  the  routes  by  which  colonists  gained 
the  Central  Plain. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  eight  rivers  whose  waters  reach  the  Atlantic  ;  of 
at  least  six  which  have  their  source  in  the  Rockies  ;  of  five  branches 
of  the  Mississippi.    On  an  outline  map  show  all  these  rivers. 

3.  Make  a  list  of  the  states  which  each  flows  through. 

4.  Locate  the  Nile,  the  Zambesi,  the  Rhine.    Find,  if  you  can, 
some  interesting  facts  about  each  one. 

5.  Name  the  divisions  of  the  Western  Highland  in  their  order 
from  the  ocean  ;  of  the  Eastern  Highland.    Locate  these  divisions  on 
a  map.    Sketch  the  "  fall  line."   AVrite  a  list  of  cities  situated  on  it. 
Find  out,  if  possible,  what  each  city  manufactures,  and  tell  why  these 
products  are  made  there. 

6.  Name  in  order,  beginning  at  the  north,  all  the  bays  and  harbors 
you  can  find  on  the  Atlantic  coast.    In  what  state  is  each  one  ?    W  hat- 
river  or  rivers  flow  into  each?    What  city  or  cities  are  situated  on 
each?    Locate  bays,  harbors,  rivers,  and  cities  on  an  outline  map. 

7.  Write  an  explanation  of  the  formation  of  drowned  valleys. 

8.  Locate  Yellowstone  Park  and  Colorado  Canon. 

9.  Describe  the  wonders  of  each. 


SURFACE  AND  DRAINAGE  31 

10.  Tell  the  story  of  Sheridan's   ride   through  the  Shenaudoah 
Valley. 

11.  Do  you  know  the  poem  about  it? 

12.  See  if  you  can  find  the  answers  to  the  following  questions : 

a.  What  is  the  highest  mountain  in  the  United  States  ? 
//.  Where  is  the  lowest  part  of  the  country  ?    How  low  is  it  ? 
c.  Where  is  the  hottest  place  ? 
<L  Where  are  the  fewest  rivers  ? 

e.  Where  are  the  largest  trees  ? 

f.  Where  are  there  no  trees  ? 

g.  Where  are  the  glaciers?   What  is  a  glacier?    In  what 

other  countries  are  glaciers  found  ? 
h.  Name  some  volcanoes  in  the  United  States. 
/.  In  what  states  would  you  find  geysers,  salt  lakes,  canons, 

petrified  forests  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 
CLIMATE   AND   SOIL 

The  position  and  size  of  a  country,  its  surface  and  drain- 
age, affect  in  great  measure  the  life  of  the  people ;  and  no 
less  important  in  their  effects  are  the  climate  and  the  soil. 

Because  of  the  position,  size,  and  surface  of  the  United 
States  we  find  in  it  great  varieties  of  climate.  Without 
traveling  beyond  its  boundaries  we  may  go  from  the  sub- 
tropical temperature  of  the  South  to  the  almost  Arctic 
winters  of  the  North ;  from  the  abrupt  changes  of  the  New 
England  states,  where  hot  weather  is  quickly  followed  by 
cold,  and  heavy  rains  by  droughts,  to  the  balmy  winters  of 
southern  California,  where  the  temperature  varies  but  little, 
and  where  the  sun  shines  from  a  cloudless  sky  for  weeks  at 
a  time.  We  may  visit  western  Oregon,  where  nearly  ninety 
inches  of  rain  falls  each  year,  and  see  its  forests  of  immense 
trees,  fields  of  waving  wheat,  and  orchards  of  delicious  fruits. 
Several  hundred  miles  farther  south,  in  southern  California, 
we  find  one  of  the  driest  regions  of  the  world.  In  Death 
Valley,  a  part  of  the  Mohave  desert,  less  than  two. inches 
of  rain  falls  annually,  and  often  a  year  or  two  passes  with 
no  relief  from  the  bright  sunshine.  A  more  miserable  place 
cannot  well  be  imagined.  No  living  thing  exists  here  except 
a  few  varieties  of  tlic  cactus  plant  and  sonic  li/ards  and 
honied  toads.  Tlic  sun's  ravs  in  summer  arc  well-nigh  nn- 
Ix-araUc.  Water  thrown  upon  the  ground  disappears  almost 
instantly,  and  one  cannot  bear  one's  hand  upon  a  stone  that 

32 


CLIMATE  AND  SOIL  33 

has  lain  for  some  time  in  the  sunshine.  Although  rainstorms 
are  rare,  violent  sandstorms  frequently  occur.  The  clouds 
of  sand  are  so  thick  that  the  sun  is  hidden.  The  wind  blows 
with  such  violence  that  drifts  of  the  loose  soil  are  piled  up 
ten  and  fifteen  feet  high  and  particles  of  fine  sand  cut  the 
skin  like  a  knife. 

But  you  are  already  asking,  "  Why  are  so  many  varieties 
of  temperature  and  rainfall  found  in  the  same  country  ?  " 


FKJ.  11.    WINTER  IN  SOITIIKRN  CALIFORNIA 

You  can  answer  the  question  by  thinking  of  the  size,  posi- 
tion, and  surface  of  the  United  States. 

Our  country  is  very  large.  It  stretches  three  thousand 
miles  from  east  to  west,  and  one  half  of  that  distance  from 
north  to  south ;  and  different  influences  are  at  work  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  its  immense  area.  Its  southern  limit  is  not  far 
from  the  torrid  zone,  while  its  northern  border  is  nearly  two 
thousand  miles  nearer  to  the  frigid  zone  than  to  the  torrid. 


34 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


The  United  States  lies  in  the  path  of  the  westerly  winds, 
which  prevail  in  the  temperate  zones.  Warmed  by  the  Japan 
Current,  they  blow  upon  our  western  shores,  bringing  the 
mild,  even  temperature  of  the  ocean,  and  making  possible 


FIG.  12.    NIAGARA  FALLS  IN  WINTER 
Compare  this  picture  with  Fig.  11 

the  winter  roses,  geraniums,  and  fruit  orchards  of  southern 
(  'aliiornia.  <  hi  the  eastern  coast  the  Labrador  Current  flows 
southward  near  to  the  shore,  chilling  the  land  for  miles 
around.  Though  not  so  agreeable,  its  importance  to  Kastern 


CLIMATE  AND  SOIL  :-jr> 

people  is  perhaps  as  great  as  that  of  the  balmy  Japan 
Current  to  California,  for  in  its  cold  depths  great  numbers 
of  codfish,  herring,  and  mackerel  find  food  and  temperature 
suited  to  their  development.  The  cold  Arctic  stream  is  as 
necessary  to  the  life  of  these  fish  as  rain  and  sunshine  are 
to  the  crops  of  the  farmer.  Without  this  current  the  fishing 
industry  of  New  England  would  not  be  possible. 

Nowhere  in  the  coastal  regions  do  we  find  the  extremes 
of  temperature  to  which  the  inland  states  are  subject.  In 
summer  people  like  to  go  to  the  beaches  and  ocean  resorts, 
for  in  the  hot  season  the  water  is  cooler  than  the  land  and 
so  lowers  the  temperature  of  places  near  it.  In  winter  the 
opposite  is  true,  and  snowstorms  of  inland  regions  often 
become  rainstorms  near  the  coast. 

The  amount  of  rainfall  in  the  United  States  is  as  varied 
as  the  temperature,  as  you  will  see  if  you  examine  the 
accompanying  map.  The  westerly  winds,  full  of  moisture 
obtained  in  their  journey  over  the  Pacific  Ocean,  blow  upon 
the  western  borders  of  the  country.  You  know  that  air 
when  cooled  cannot  hold  so  much  moisture  as  when  warm. 
When  the  hot  air  from  the  nose  of  a  teakettle  is  suddenly 
chilled  by  holding  a  cold  plate  before  it,  much  of  the  mois- 
ture it  contains  is  deposited  upon  the  plate.  In  winter  the 
land  is  cooler  than  the  air  from  over  the  ocean,  and  the  mois- 
ture is  condensed  into  rain  near  the  coast.  In  summer  the 
prevailing  westerlies  have  moved  farther  north,  and  little 
or  no  moisture  falls  in  the  southern  part  of  this  coast  region. 
Thus  in  parts  of  California  two  seasons  prevail,  the  dry 
summer  and  the  wet  winter. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  with  their  cold,  lofty 
peaks,  condense  much  moisture  on  their  western  slopes  and 


3G  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  winds  that  blow  over  the  Great  Basin  are  dry,  carrying 
no  refreshing  rains  to  the  parched  soil.  The  eastern  slopes 
of  the  mountains  are  comparatively  bare,  while  on  the  west- 
ern sides  we  find  great  forests  of  the  largest  trees  in  the 
world  and  fertile  valleys  green  with  wheat  or  yellow  with 
fruit.  What  little  moisture  remains  in  the  air  after  passing 
over  the  lofty  Sierras  is  condensed  upon  the  upper  western 


FIG.  13.    ANNUAL  RAINFALL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Darkest  shade,  over  80  inches.    Lighter  vertical  lines,  from  40  inches  to 

80  inches.   Horizontal  lines,  from  20  inches  to  40  inches.   Blank,  from  10 

inches  to  20  inches.   Dotted,  less  than  10  inches 

slopes  of  the  Rockies.  The  regions  to  the  east  of  these  moun- 
tains receive  no  rain  from  the  westerly  winds,  though  they 
continue  their  course  over  the  country.  In  New  England 
pleasant  weather  is  expected  when  the  wind  is  from  the  west, 
while  rain  is  brought  by  the  damp,  east  winds.  The  Atlantic 
Ocean,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  Great  Lakes  furnish 
most  of  the  moisture  for  the  eastern  and  southern  states. 


CLIMATE  AND  SOIL  37 

The  greater  portion  of  the  country,  except  the  Great 
Basin  region  and  the  plains  east  of  the  Rockies,  receives 
sufficient  rainfall  for  agriculture.  In  the  semi-arid  regions, 
where  there  is  a  little  rain  but  not  sufficient  for  raising 
crops,  are  the  great  cattle  and  sheep  ranches  of  the  country. 
In  the  spring  the  grass  comes  up  fresh  and  green,  but 
withers  in  the  dry  heat  of  summer.  Its  nourishment,  how- 
ever, still  remains  in  the  dry  stalks  and  blades.  So,  although 
the  country  looks  barren,  the  cattle  find  much  of  their  food 
in  the  brown  grass. 

In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  sections  little  vegetation  is  pos- 
sible without  irrigation.  Great  areas  that  were  formerly 
parched,  barren  wastes  have  been  irrigated  so  that  now 
they  are  yielding  crops  of  fruit  and  grain.  Hundreds  of 
square  miles  have  already  been  reclaimed  from  the  desert, 
and  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  further  plans 
which  will  make  productive  more  than  ten  thousand  square 
miles  now  practically  useless.  This  is  more  than  is  contained 
in  the  whole  state  of  Massachusetts.  How  many  farms  do 
you  think  can  be  made  from  this  great  area  ? 

When  the  snow  melts  in  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  which 
perhaps  later  in  the  year  may  be  wholly  or  partly  dry,  are 
rushing  torrents,  and  great  quantities  of  water  run  to  waste. 
By  building  dams  this  water  is  stored  in  reservoirs.  It  can 
then  be  taken  great  distances  through  canals  and  pipes,  and 
used  when  the  dry  season  comes. 

How  to  obtain  a  sufficient  water  supply  is  a  much  greater 
problem  in  Western  cities  than  for  those  in  the  East,  for  it 
must  in  many  cases  be  brought  from  great  distances.  The 
supply  must  be  larger  than  in  the  East,  for  it  is  used  for 
irrigating  as  well  as  for  other  purposes.  In  many  Western 


38  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

cities  no  grass  will  grow  on  the  lawns  and  no  trees  shade 
the  sidewalks  without  artificial  watering,  and  streams  trick- 
ling along  the  sides  of  the  streets  are  familiar  sights  there. 
Los  Angeles  has  made  plans  to  bring  water  to  the  city 
from  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierras,  two  hundred  forty 
miles  away.  Think  of  an  aqueduct  ten  feet  wide  and  four- 
teen feet  high,  long  enough  to  reach  from  New  York  to 


• 


FIG.  14.    VARIETIES  OF  CACTUS  UNDER  CULTIVATION 

Pittsburg  or  halfway  from  Chicago  to  Buffalo,  passing 
through  deserts  and  cations  and  tunnels  to  bring  water  to 
a  thirsty  city. 

Though  we  often  speak  of  the  great  deserts  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  United  Stales,  very  little  land  is  unproduc- 
tive beeanse  of  lack  of  fertility  in  the  soil  itself.  Deserts 
are  caused  chiefly  in  three  ways:  by  lack  of  heat,  lack  of 
rainfall,  and  lack  of  good  soil.  The  great  fiw.en  areas  of 


Of  TH« 

UNIVERSITY 

^-WsBBftWrK  AND  SOIL  39 

the  polar  regions  are  examples  of  the  first  kind.  More  land 
is  made  unproductive  by  lack  of  heat  than  in  any  other  way. 
Lack  of  rainfall  has  caused  great  areas  to  be  unfruitful 
which,  if  supplied  with  water,  would  yield  abundant  crops. 
Many  such  desert  wastes  are  disappearing  under  the  hand 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  15.    NATURAL  BRIDGE,  VIRGINIA 


o 


f  science.     The  largest  barren  areas  in  our  own  country 
are  deserts  of  this  type.     Comparatively  little  land  in  the 
United  States  belongs  to  the  third  class,  though  some  such 
areas  can  be  found  in  the  Dakotas  and  in  the  Great  Basin. 
In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  country  the  soil  is  made 


40 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


from  the  lava  which  overspread  the  land  to  a  great  depth. 
The  soil  is  fertile  and  the  rainfall  abundant,  and  as  a  result 
great  crops  are  produced.  There  are  navigable  rivers  and 
deep,  safe  harbors,  so  we  should  expect  that  much  com- 
merce would  be  carried  on.  Can  you  tell  what  are  the  chief 
products  and  to  what  countries  they  are  sent  ? 

Much  of  the  fine,  dark,  rich  soil  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
is  the  gift  of  the  streams  of  that  region.    Its  original  home 


FIG.  16.    GLACIATED  AREA  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  in  the  mountains  to  the  east  and  west.  The  rivers  have 
ground  it  fine  and  carried  it  many  miles  from  its  mountain 
home,  to  lay  it  down  year  after  year  in  a  thin  covering  over 
the  plain.  All  the  great  crops  of  wheat  and  corn,  of  cotton 
and  sugar,  are  made  possible  because  of  the  fertility  of 
this  soil. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  Central  Plain,  in  Kentucky 
mid  Tennessee  and  extending  into  Virginia,  is  a  limestone 


CLIMATE  AND  SOIL  41 

region.  The  soil  is  composed  largely  of  lime,  obtained 
through  centuries  from  shells  of  vast  numbers  of  small 
animals  that  lived  in  the  waters  which  then  extended  from 
the  Gulf  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  Water  easily  dissolves  lime- 
stone, and  therefore  many  caves  and  curious  formations  are 
found  in  this  region.  The  soil  of  these  states  is  very  pro- 
ductive, and  the  Blue  Grass  region  of  Kentucky  is  famous 
for  the  fine  breed  of  horses  which  is  raised  there. 

All  through  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States  the 
soil  has  been  affected  by  the  great  ice  sheet  which  ages  ago 
overspread  this  region  as  far  south  as  the  Ohio  River  and 
New  York  City.  Much  of  the  soil  was  scraped  along  by  the 
glacier,  and  deposited  perhaps  many  miles  from  the  place 
where  it  had  lain,  and  other  soil  brought  from  the  north  to 
take  its  place.  Sometimes  the  rock  fragments  brought  by 
the  glacier  were  soft  and  easily  worn  away.  In  that  case 
we  find  a  smooth,  fine  soil,  as  in  the  north  central  part  of 
the  United  States.  Sometimes  the  material  carried  by  the 
moving  ice  was  very  hard  and  not  easily  affected,  in  which 
case  farmers  have  to  struggle  with  a  rocky  soil,  such  as  is 
found  on  many  New  England  farms. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 

1.  In  what  ways  does  the  position  of  the  United  States  affect  its 
temperature  ?  its  rainfall  ?  Name  all  the  crops  you  have  read  of  so 
far.    Tell  the  causes  that  affect  them. 

2.  Imagine  the  United  States  in  the  position  of  Mexico  and  tell 
what  changes  would  result  to  climate,  soil,  and  industries.    In  the 
position  of  Canada. 

3.  Imagine  the  Rocky  Mountain  Highland  extending  from  east 
to  west  across  the  southern  part  of  the  country,  and  tell  what  changes 
would  result. 


42  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

4.  Prepare  a  paper  to  convince  a  European  that  the  United  States 
is  more  favorably  situated  than  any  other  country,  and  has  more 
advantages. 

5.  Locate  Mammoth  Cave  and  the  Natural  Bridge.    See  if  you 
can  find  descriptions  or  pictures  of  these  wonderful  formations. 

6.  Make  a  fine  map  for  your  school  collection  by  painting  white, 
on  an  outline  map  of  the  United  States,  the  area  covered  by  the 
glacier. 

7.  Do  you  know  of  any  famous  summer  resorts  near  the  ocean? 
Make  a  list  of  such  and  locate  them. 

8.  Sketch  a  map  of  the  United  States  showing  the  Japan  Current, 
the  Labrador  Current,  and  the  Gulf  Stream.    Can  you  tell  why  the 
warm  air  over  the  Gulf  Stream  affects  the  climate  of  our  country  less 
than  that  of  Europe  ? 

9.  On  the  same  map,  write  in  the  part  of  the  country  where  they 
are  raised  the  names  of  all  products  mentioned  in  the  chapter.  Locate 
also  all  places  mentioned.    Make  a  statement  about  each  one. 

10.  Explain  the  lack  of  rain  in  the  Great  Basin ;  on  the  plains 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Which  of  these  places  receives  less 
rain  ?  Can  you  think  why  this  is  so  ? 


CHAPTER   V 
WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS 

The  United  States  is  well  supplied  with  navigable  rivers, 
and  railroads  are  very  numerous.  Yet  so  rapidly  have  our 
products  and  manufactures  increased  that  there  is  much 
delay  in  transporting  them.  Manufacturers  complain  that 
they  cannot  get  the  material  for  their  factories  on  time. 
Dealers  in  the  West  receive  only  after  long  delay  the  man- 
ufactured goods  they  have  bought  in  the  East.  Wheat 
farmers  see  their  grain,  which  they  have  raised  with  much 
care  and  expense,  lie  rotting  on  the  ground.  The  great  rail- 
roads of  the  country  now  own  more  than  two  million  cars 
for  carrying  freight.  One  of  the  largest  roads  built  in  one 
year  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  freight  cars,  and  all 
railroads  of  importance  add  to  their  equipment  from  live  to 
ten  thousand  freight  cars  annually.  Yet  all  these  are  not 
nearly  sufficient  to  move  the  products  raised  and  manu- 
factured each  year. 

Our  navigable  waterways  are  of  great  help  in  transporting 
goods,  and  many  million  dollars1  worth  is  carried  each  year 
over  lakes,  through  canals,  and  on  rivers.  Many  plans  are 
on  foot  to  make  these  water  routes  more  valuable  as  high- 
ways', and  much  money  will  be  spent  in  the  near  future  in 
adding  new  ones.  New  York  has  appropriated  the  immense 
sum  of  one  hundred  million  dollars  to  improve  the  Erie 
Canal,  which  extends  between  Buffalo  and  Albany,  so  that 
it  will  accommodate  larer  and  moiv  modern  boats.  This 


44 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


canal  and  the  Hudson  River  connect  the  Great  Lakes  and 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  As  you  read  the  following  chapters 
you  will  find  out  what  goods  are  carried  over  this  route. 

A  canal  in  which  you  will  be  interested  when  reading  the 
chapters  on  Wheat,  Coal,  and  Iron  is  the  "Soo,"  between 
lakes  Superior  and  Huron,  built  to  avoid  the  rapids  in  St. 
Mary  River.  This  is  at  present  the  most  important  canal 
in  the  world.  Several  times  as  much  freight  passes  through 


FIG.  17.    VIEW  OF  LOCK  IN  "Soo"   CANAL 

it  as  through  the  famous  Suez  Canal,  and  the  traffic  is  rapidly 
increasing.  There  are  three  locks  in  the  "  Soo,"  one  on  the 
Canadian  and  two  on  the  American  side,  and  plans  are  being 
made  for  still  another,  so  that  there  may  be  less  delay  for 
vessels.  At  the  present  time  the  lock  on  the  Canadian  side 
is  the  longest  in  the  world. 

Another  canal  connecting  with  the  Great  Lakes  will  run 
from  Pittsburg  to  Lake  Erie  at  Ashtabula,  Millions  of  tons 
of  coal  are  sent  through  the  (iivat  Lakes  .from  Pittsbur^, 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS  45 

and  a  greater  quantity  of  iron  comes  over  the  same  route 
to  the  city.  It  costs  by  water  less  than  a  tenth  of  a  cent  per 
ton  to  carry  the  mineral  one  mile.  For  the  short  journey  by 
rail  between  the  lake  and  Pittsburg  the  cost  is  more  than 
one  half  of  a  cent  per  mile.  No  wonder  that  the  people  of  the 
city  have  worked  long  and  hard  to  get  such  a  canal  started. 
A  canal  in  Massachusetts  has  been  begun,  connecting 
the  ocean  at  Sandwich  with  Buzzards  Bay.  In  the  future  a 


FIG.  18.    "  Soo  "  CANAL 
Notice  gates  to  the  lock 

series  of  canals  may  make  it  possible  to  go  most  of  the  way 
from  Boston  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  inland  waterways. 
It  will  probably  be  many  years  before  they  are  all  completed, 
but  let  us  imagine  them  already  finished  and  take  a  trip  to 
the  Gulf.  The  new  canal  in  Massachusetts  is  the  most  north- 
erly one.  Then  a  trip  through  Long  Island  Sound  takes  us 
to  New  York  City,  and  from  there  we  will  go  by  canal 
across  New  Jersey  to  the  Delaware  River  and  into  Delaware 
Bay.  A  waterway  cut  across  the  state  of  Delaware  will  take 


46  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

us  to  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  We  will  sail  down  the 
bay  to  Norfolk,  thence  by  a  series  of  canals  through  Pamlico 
Sound  and  behind  the  fringe  of  islands  along  the  Carolina 
coasts.  Florida  can  be  crossed  by  a  waterway  connecting 
the  St.  Johns  and  Suwanee  rivers.  What  an  advantage  it 
will  be  for  the  United  States  when  all  these  connections 
are  completed  so  that  vessels  can  take  this  shorter,  safer 
route  from  Boston  to  the  Gulf. 

The  greatest  undertaking  of  the  times  is  the  building  of 
the  Panama  Canal,  which  will  cut  the  Western  Hemisphere 
in  two.  Look  at  a  map  of  the  world  and  see  how  much 
shorter  the  distance  is  from  the  cities  on  our  Atlantic  coast 
to  Asia  and  the  Pacific  islands  if  vessels  sail  through  the 
canal  instead  of  going  by  the  long,  stormy  route  around 
South  America.  Since  we  have  come  into  possession  of  the 
Philippine  and  Hawaiian  islands  our  trade  in  the  Pacific 
has  increased  immensely.  As  you  study  the  following  chap- 
ters notice  what  are  the  chief  prodticts  which  we  get  from 
these  islands.  Can  you  think  what  the  United  States  will 
send  them  in  return  ? 

A  great  quantity  of  freight  comes  from  the  interior  of 
our  country,  from  the  broad,  fertile  Mississippi  Valley. 
Animal  products,  grains  and  flour,  and  much  cotton  come 
from  this  part  of  the  United  States.  To  reach  the  great 
cities'  on  either  the  Atlantic  or  the  Pacific  coast  a  journey 
of  several  hundred  miles  is  necessary  before  the  produce  is 
started  on  the  ocean  voyage  to  foreign  markets. 

Much  more  trade  could  be  carried  over  the  Mississippi 
than  at  present  if  the  water  during  many  months  of  the 
year  were  not  so  shallow.  This  river  and  its  many  naviga- 
ble branches  lie  in  the  heart  of  the  fertile  West,  and  before 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS  47 

the  building  of  the  great  railroads  which  cross  the  country 
from  east  to  west  this  water  route  was  the  chief  highway 
of  trade  for  that  section.  Plans  are  on  foot  to  control  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  keep  them  at  a  higher  level, 
and  also  to  connect  them  with  the  Great  Lakes. 

How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  Chicago  is  the  largest  city  of 
the  great  Central  Plain,  indeed,  next  to  New  York,  the 
largest  city  in  our  country.  Many  railroads  radiate  from  it, 
but  they  alone  are  unable  to  handle  the  millions  of  tons  of 
freight  sent  out  from  the  city.  The  trade  through  the  Great 
Lakes  is  very  important,  but  we  must  remember  that  these 
are  closed  by  ice  during  several  months  of  the  year.  This 
throws  even  more  work  upon  the  already  overcrowded  rail- 
roads. If  Chicago  could  ship  goods  from  her  very  doors 
down  the  Mississippi,  and  out  through  the  Panama  Canal 
to  Asia  and  the  Pacific  islands,  what  a  fine  thing  for  our 
country's  trade  it  would  be.  And  this  is  just  exactly  what 
the  people  of  the  Middle  West  are  determined  shall  be  done. 

Chicago  has  built  a  canal  connecting  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  Illinois  River,  to  drain  the  city  and  carry  off  the  sewage. 
By  making  certain  improvements  in  this  canal,  and  by  per- 
fecting the  plans  for  making  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi 
rivers  navigable  at  all  times  of  the  year,  a  fine  waterway 
will  be  established  through  the  most  productive  area  of  the 
United  States.  When  our  government  has  done  this,  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  will  be  directly  con- 
nected, and  much  of  the  commerce  of  the  Middle  West  will 
be  directed  through  the  Gulf  and  the  Panama  Canal. 

( )ur  railroads,  however,  will  probably  always  be  the  most 
important  carrying  agents.  There  are  great  lines  of  road 
which  lead  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Central  Plain, 


o 

a 
£ 

o 


48 


WATERWAYS  AND  HAILROAIXS  49 

and  other  important  ones  which  connect  the  large  cities  of 
the  Middle  West  with  the  Pacific  ports.  The  New  York 
Central,  the  Pennsylvania,  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  and  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  are  some  of  the  roads  which  lead  from 
the  Atlantic  coast  cities  to  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  the  great 
centers  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Compare  the  accompany- 
ing map,  on  which  these  roads  are  shown,  with  the  map 
showing  the  rivers,  and  see  what  river  valley  each  railroad 
follows  in  its  route  over  the  mountains.  These  railroads 
carry  millions  of  tons  of  iron  and  coal,  beef,  pork,  grain, 
lumber,  salt,  and  many  other  products.  These  are  distrib- 
uted through  the  coast  region  or  sent  across  the  ocean  to 
European  countries.  By  these  same  railroads  manufactured 
and  imported  goods  are  taken  from  the  cities  near  the  coast 
to  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  Great  Northern,  the  Northern  Pacific,  the  Union 
Pacific,  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and 
Santa  Fe  are  among  the  most  noted  of  the  railroads  which 
take  freight  and  thousands  of  tourists  from  the  Mississippi 
Valley  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  bring  back  the  gold,  silver, 
fruit,  salmon,  lumber,  cattle,  and  other  products  from 
California  and  other  Pacific  states. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 

1.  Name  all  the  rivers  that  have  been  mentioned  that  belong  to 
the  Atlantic  system  ;  to  the  Pacific  system  ;  to  the  Gulf  system.   Put 
them  into  an  outline  map. 

2.  Find  the  terminal  cities  and  the  states  that  each  railroad  men- 
tioned passes  through.    Indicate  the  railroads  and  mark  the  termini 
on  an  outline  map. 

3.  What  railroad  would  you  take  to  go  from  where  you  live  to 
Chicago?  to  Harpers  Ferry?  to  St.  Louis?    to  San  Francisco  ?   Plan 
a  trip  to  some  city  in  which  you  are  interested. 


50  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

4.  If  you  owned  a  copper  mine  in  Arizona,  over  what  route;  would 
you  ship  your  product  ?  Suppose  your  copper  mine  to  be  in  Montana, 
what  route  would  you  use  ?    What  railroad  might  you  use  if  you 
mined  iron  in  Minnesota?  If  you  mined  coal  in  Pennsylvania? 

5.  Sketch  the  Great  Lakes  and  show  the  route  to  the  ocean  via 
the  Erie  Canal  and  the  Hudson  River. 

6.  Show  the  route  to  Pennsylvania  via  canal  to  Pittsburg.    Show 
the  route  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  via  Chicago. 

7.  Show  existing  and  proposed  canals  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
and  the  Mississippi  River. 

8.  Name    the    animal   products    obtained   from    the    Mississippi 
Valley. 


CHAPTER  VI 

COTTON 

A  visit  to  the  country  of  King  Cotton  will  take  us  to  the 
southern  part  of  the  United  States,  where  the  warm  climate, 
the  abundant  rainfall,  and  the  fertile  soil  are  most  favorable 
for  its  production.  Though  we  should  find  cotton  growing 
all  through  the  South,  Texas,  our  largest  state,  produces 
more  than  any  other.  There  one  can  ride  for  hours  between 
immense  fields  of  cotton  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see. 
The  dark  green  leaves  of  the  plant  and  the  snowy  bolls  of 
the  fiber  make  a  pleasing  contrast.  In  the  summer  and 
autumn  many  colored  pickers  are  scattered  through  the 
fields  busily  engaged  in  filling  bags  and  baskets  with  the 
fluffy  balls. 

Cotton  is  the  most  important  crop  of  the  Southern  farm- 
ers, and  early  in  the  spring  they  are  busy  with  their  prepara- 
tions for  planting,  which  begins  as  soon  as  the  danger  from 
frost  is  over.  In  North  Carolina  farmers  sometimes  have  to 
wait  until  May,  but  in  Texas  they  usually  begin  in  March. 
The  seeds  are  planted  in  rows  about  four  feet  apart.  When 
the  shoots  are  two  or  three  inches  high,  the  plants  are 
thinned  out,  the  distance  between  them  being  regulated 
according  to  the  variety,  as  some  plants  grow  much  larger 
than  others. 

In  former  years  a  negro  with  his  mule  and  plow  first 
prepared  the  ground  and  opened  the  furrow  for  the  seed ; 
then  he  trudged  over  the  .field  again  to  drop  the  seed,  and 

61 


52 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


a  third  time  to  cover  it.  On  some  modern  plantations  all 
this  work  is  done  by  one  machine,  which  goes  over  the 
field  but  once,  opening  the  furrow,  dropping  the  seed  and 
the  fertilizer,  and  covering  them.  Much  of  the  later  work 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  20.    COTTON  ON  WHARF  AT  NEW  ORLEANS 

necessary  for  the  care  of  the  plants  may  also  be  done  by 
machinery,  though  on  very  many  farms  all  the  work  is  still 
done  by  hand. 

The  two  chief  kinds  of  cotton  raised  in  the  United  States 
are  the  sea-island  and  the  upland  or  short-staple  variety. 
The  first  mentioned  receives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it 


COTTON 


is  raised  on  the  islands  near  the  coast  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  It  is  considered  the  best  cotton  in  the  world. 
Much  of  it  is  shipped  to  Europe  and  is  there  made  into 
muslins  and  other  high-grade  goods.  Most  of  the  American 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  21.    CULTIVATING  COTTON,  DALLAS,  TEXAS 

manufacturing  is  done  from  the  upland  or  short-staple 
variety,  which  is  raised  in  the  greater  part  of  the  South. 

If  we  were  to  walk  through  a  cotton  field  eight  or  ten 
weeks  after  the  planting,  we  should  see,  peeping  out  from 
among  the  green  leaves,  the  creamy  white  blossoms,  "the 
lotus  flowers  of  the  South."  These  turn  to  a  pinkish  or 


54  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

reddish  tinge  and  soon  drop  off.  The  seed  pods,  which  soon 
form,  are  about  the  size  of  an  English  walnut.  When  ripe 
they  burst  open,  showing  the  snowy  balls  of  cotton  within. 
It  is  at  this  stage  that  the  field  presents  its  most  beautiful 
appearance.  You  see,  in  the  picture,  the  colored  pickers,  each 
with  his  bag  or  basket  crowded  full  of  the  soft,  white  fiber. 
The  owners  of  plantations  in  Texas  often  begin  the  pick- 
ing of  cotton  about  the  middle  of  July.  The  farmers  of 


FIG.  22.   PICKING  COTTON 

the  more  northerly  cotton  states  do  not  begin  picking  until 
the  middle  of  August  or  later.  No  machine  has  yet  been 
invented  which  can  do  this  work  successfully.  Such  a 
machine  would  be  of  great  value  to  the  Southern  farmers, 
for  the  picking  of  cotton  is  by  far  the  most  expensive  work 
done  on  a  plantation.  The  pickers  are  usually  paid  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  picked,  the  price  varying  from  thirty  to 
fifty  cents  or  more  for  a  hundred  pounds.  The  work  is 
hard  and  tiresome.  Think  of  spending  the  long,  hot, 


COTTON 


55 


summer  days  in  the  open  field  under  the  fierce  rays  of  the 
sun !  The  negroes  seem  able  to  stand  the  heat  better  than 
white  people,  perhaps  because  that  part  of  Africa  which 
was  the  original  home  of  the  black  race  is  very  hot. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 


FIG.  23.   WEIGHING  COTTON 

The  cotton  does  not  all  ripen  at  once,  so  a  field  has  to 
be  picked  many  times,  even  until  the  frost  destroys  what  is 
left.  The  last  picking  is  sometimes  done  as  late  as  Decem- 
ber. It  is  better  to  gather  the  cotton  in  this  way  than  to  let 
it  stand  until  all  is  ripe,  for  it  is  liable  to  injury  from  sand 
and  dust,  and  from  rains  and  dew. 


56  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

In  walking  through  the  cotton  field,  we  find  some  bolls 
in  which  the  fiber  is  not  pure  and  white,  and  we  notice  many 
of  the  little  cases  (called  squares),  which  contain  the  young 
buds,  lying  on  the  ground.  These  indicate  the  presence  of 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  24.    SHIPPING  COTTON 
Notice  size  and  shape  of  bale 

the  cotton  plant's  greatest  enemy,  the  cotton-boll  weevil. 
The  damage  done  by  this  insect  in  the  state  of  Texas  alone 
has  amounted!  to  millions  of  dollars. 

The  weevil  is  a  small,  gray  beetle,  about  one  fourth  of  an 
inch  long.    It  spreads  very  rapidly,  for  the  young  develop 


COTTON  57 

in  three  or  four  weeks  and  it  is  possible  for  several  genera- 
tions to  breed  in  a  single  season.  The  United  States  govern- 
ment, through  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  has  realized 
the  great  menace  to  the  cotton  crop  and  has  appropriated 
large  sums  of  money  to  remedy  the  evil.  Many  experts 
have  been  at  work  on  the  problem,  but  so  far  no  real  remedy 
seems  to  have  been  found. 

The  white  fiber  of  the  cotton  boll  is  filled  with  small,  dark 
seeds  nearly  twice  the  size  of  an  apple  seed.  For  many 
years  these  had  to  be  picked  out  by  hand.  This  was  a  long, 
slow  process,  for  hurry  as  fast  as  he  might,  a  workman  could 
not  clean  more  than  a  pound  in  a  day.  This  limited  the 
amount  of  cotton  produced,  for  only  as  much  was  raised  as 
could  be  cleaned.  All  this  was  changed,  however,  when 
Eli  Whitney  invented  the  cotton  engine  or  "  cotton  gin,"  as 
it  is  usually  called,  by  which  the  seeds  are  easily  and  quickly 
removed  from  the  fiber.  The  story  of  the  invention  is  very 
interesting,  but  is  too  long  to  be  told  here. 

The  machine  is  simple  and  does  its  work  effectually.  It 
consists  of  a  revolving  cylinder  on  which  are  rows  of  saw 
teeth  about  one  half  inch  apart.  As  the  cylinder  revolves, 
these  teeth  catch  the  fiber  and  draw  it  through  screens  of 
wire  netting,  while  the  seeds  drop  on  the  other  side.  The 
cotton  is  swept  by  brushes  from  the  saw  teeth  to  which  it 
clings,  and  is  blown  by  a  blast  of  air  into  a  room  where  it 
lies  white  and  clean,  freed  from  its  seeds  and  from  all  dust. 

The  clean,  fluffy  cotton  is  next  blown  into  the  pressroom 
where  it  is  made  up  into  bales  to  be  sent  away.  These  bales 
standing  on  end  are  about  as  tall  as  you  are  and  large 
enough  to  weigh  five  hundred  pounds.  They  are  worth 
from  thirty  to  forty  dollars  each.  At  the  shipping  cities 


58  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

they  are  put  under  more  powerful  presses  and  reduced  to 
smaller  bulk.  In  this  form  they  take  up  less  room  and  are 
not  so  inflammable,  a  matter  to  be  carefully  looked  after,  as 
more  than  half  of  all  our  raw  cotton  goes  on  a  long  voyage 
across  the  ocean  to  European  countries,  while  much  of  the 
remainder  is  sent  north  to  be  manufactured.  A  more  recent 
method  of  shipping  raw  cotton  is  in  round  bales  about  three 
feet  long.  This  method  of  baling  is  carried  on  at  the  gin- 
house  itself,  and  thus  saves  trouble  and  expense.  In  time, 
doubtless,  all  cotton  will  be  baled  in  this  way. 

The  cotton  from  the  outlying  plantations  is  sent  to  the 
village  and  is  there  ginned  and  baled.  Most  of  the  Texas 
product  is  then  shipped  to  Galveston,  the  commercial  center 
of  the  state.  The  city  has  a  fine  harbor  and  an  immense 
trade.  Vessels  of  many  nations  find  anchorage  there,  and 
cotton  may  be  shipped  to  any  of  the  ports  in  our  own 
country  or  in  Europe. 

Before  we  embark  with  our  load  of  cotton,  let  us  go  back 
to  the  plantation  and  see  what  is  done  with  the  seeds  which 
were  separated  from  the  fiber  in  the  ginning  room.  The 
seeds  were  formerly  considered  rather  a  nuisance  to  dispose 
of,  and  were  thrown  away  as  waste  matter.  Now,  however, 
they  are  considered  of  much  value  and  are  carefully  saved. 
There  is  an  immense  quantity  of  them,  as  from  every  pound 
of  lint  two  pounds  of  seed  on  the  average  are  removed.  When 
we  speak  of  the  value  of  the  cotton  crop,  we  think  usually 
only  of  the  millions  of  yards  of  cloth  and  lace  and  thread 
which  are  made  every  year  from  the  fiber.  But  to-day  the 
seeds  increase  the  value  of  the  crop  by  millions  of  dollars. 

In  many  Southern  towns  and  cities,  side  by  side  with  the 
ginning  plant  and  the  cotton  factory,  stands  the  cottonseed 


COTTON'  59 

mill.  There  are  several  hundred  of  these  mills  in  the  South. 
In  them  the  seed  is  crushed,  and  the  oil  which  is  extracted 
and  purified  is  sold  in  large  quantities  for  various  purposes. 
One  of  the  important  uses  is  as  a  substitute  for  lard  or  an 
ingredient  of  it.  Nearly  one  third  of  the  cottonseed  oil  now 
manufactured  we  are  told  is  bought  by  packing  houses  and 
used  in  this  way.  Great  quantities  of  it  are  shipped  abroad 
and  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of  butterine.  This  is  a 
substitute  for  butter  which  is  much  used  in  Holland,  Bel- 
gium, France,  and  other  European  countries. 

Pure  cottonseed  oil  is  said  to  be  colorless  and  odorless 
and  to  have  an  agreeable  taste,  and  because  of  these  and 
other  qualities  it  is  every  year  being  used  more  and  more 
in  place  of  olive  oil.  Much  is  shipped  to  the  Mediterranean 
countries,  and,  mixed  with  olive  oil,  makes  a  cheaper  food 
for  the  peasants.  On  the  coast  of  Maine  great  numbers  of 
small  fish  are  caught  and  packed  in  this  oil  and  sold  as 
sardines.  The  inferior  product  which  is  left  after  the  best 
quality  of  cottonseed  oil  is  manufactured  is  used  chiefly 
in  the  making  of  soap. 

After  the  crusher  has  extracted  the  oil  from  the  seed,  the 
residue  is  made  into  meal.  This  is  useful  as  a  food  for 
cattle,  and  in  the  South  has  largely  taken  the  place  of  corn. 
The  Southern  farmer  can  now  feed  his  cattle  on  the  product 
of  his  cotton  fields,  and  thus  save  much  that  was  formerly 
expended  for  grain.  It  is  said  that  what  is  left  of  a  bushel 
of  cottonseed  after  the  oil  has  been  extracted  has  as  much 
food  value  as  a  bushel  of  corn. 

The  Western  cattlemen  are  calling  more  and  more  on 
the  South  for  cottonseed  meal  to  fatten  their  cattle  for 
market  and  to  tide  them  over  the  years  when  the  corn  crop 


60  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

is  smaller  than  usual.  The  meal  is  valuable  also  as  an  in- 
gredient of  fertilizers,  and  many  hundred  tons  are  sold  each 
year  for  this  purpose. 

But  not  all  the  uses  of  cottonseed  have  been  mentioned 
yet,  for  the  hulls,  which  were  removed  before  the  oil  was 
extracted,  are  still  to  be  disposed  of.  There  is  a  great  quan- 
tity of  them,  for  they  comprise  nearly  one  half  the  total 
weight  of  the  seed.  They  are  used  as  cattle  food  and  also 
for  fuel  in  the  factories,  two  and  one  half  tons  of  hulls  being 
equal  to  a  cord  of  wood  for  heating  purposes.  And  even 
the  ashes  are  sold  for  fertilizer;  they  are  considered 
especially  good  in  the  raising  of  tobacco. 

Statistics  show  that  all  our  exports  of  flour,  wheat,  and 
corn  since  1880  have  not  equaled  the  value  of  the  cotton, 
cotton  goods,  and  cottonseed  products  which  have  been  sent 
out  of  the  country  in  the  same  time.  We  do  not  wonder  so 
much  at  this  remarkable  statement  now  that  we  understand 
how  every  part  of  the  fruit  of  the  cotton  plant  is  utilized. 

No  other  plant  raised  in  any  part  of  the  world  is  so  valu- 
able to  mankind  as  cotton.  We  have  many  fruits,  but  the 
loss  of  any  one  of  them  might  be  easily  made  good  by 
another ;  the  same  is  to  a  degree  true  in  regard  to  grains ; 
but  for  cotton  there  is  no  substitute  which  can  be  raised  on 
so  large  a  scale  and  manufactured  so  cheaply.  It  is  the 
wealth  of  the  South,  and  a  failure  of  this  crop  is  more 
widespread  and  disastrous  in  its  effects  than  that  of  any 
other  product.  Not  only  men  interested  in  the  crop  suffer, 
but  also  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  mill  hands  scattered 
through  the  North  and  South. 

No  other  plant  has  figured  so  largely  in  the  history  of 
our  country.  It  was  due  chiefly  to  the  cotton  industry  that 


COTTON  61 

slavery  became  a  settled  institution  in  the  South,  and  the 
Civil  War  grew  out  of  the  industrial  conditions  there. 
"  Cotton  is  King ! "  was  the  cry  then,  and  it  is  truer  now 
than  it  was  in  the  stirring  days  of  the  sixties.  It  is  the 
principal  crop  of  ten  states,  and  in  large  areas  of  these  it  is 
the  only  crop  of  any  importance. 

The  cotton  belt  stretches  from  Kentucky  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  from  North  Carolina  on  the  east  through  eastern 
Texas  on  the  west,  being  limited  in  its  western  extension  by 
the  light  rainfall.  Of  all  the  states  included  in  this  section 
Texas  produces  the  most,  gins  the  most,  exports  the  most 
cotton,  and  manufactures  the  most  oil  and  meal.  Mississippi 
conies  next,  and  then  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  South  Carolina. 

The  cotton  raised  in  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  northern 
Mississippi  and  Alabama  finds  a  market  at  Memphis  and 
goes  thence  to  New  Orleans,  which  is  the  largest  cotton- 
exporting  city  in  the  world.  The  crop  of  Texas  is  exported 
largely  by  way  of  Galveston,  which  ranks  next  to  New 
Orleans  in  the  shipping  of  cotton.  On  the  eastern  coast 
the  principal  ports  are  Charleston  and  Savannah.  Much 
cotton  is  shipped  also  from  Norfolk  and  New  York. 

More  than  ten  million  bales  are  distributed  annually 
through  these  and  other  cities  to  European  countries  and 
to  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  About  one  half  of 
all  this  immense  quantity  is  manufactured  abroad.  But 
think  of  the  many  mills  and  factories  which  are  necessary 
in  our  own  country  to  manufacture  the  millions  of  bales 
remaining ! 

In  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  the  largest  cotton  manu- 
facturing city  in  the  United  States,  there  are  used  each 
week  more  than  one  and  one  half  million  pounds  of  cotton. 


62  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Enough  cloth  is  made  in  this  city  every  year  to  carpet  its 
entire  area  several  thicknesses  deep.  Large  quantities  of 
cotton  are  used  also  in  the  four  or  five  hundred  cotton  mills 
in  the  other  cities  and  towns  of  New  England.  Chief  among 
these  manufacturing  centers  are  Lowell  and  Lawrence  in 
Massachusetts,  and  Manchester  in  New  Hampshire. 

It  seems  strange  to  find  so  many  cotton  mills  so  far  from 
the  place  of  production.  But  through  most  of  our  history 
New  England  has  been  the  manufacturing  center  of  our 
country.  The  front  of  the  great  glacier,  which  so  many 
years  ago  spread  over  the  northern  United  States,  long  re- 
mained stationary  near  the  New  England  coast,  and  depos- 
ited, as  the  ice  melted  back,  great  masses  of  gravel  and  clay. 
These  deposits  were  often  sufficient  to  turn  the  rivers  out 
of  their  courses,  and  the  efforts  of  the  streams  to  make 
new  channels  have  resulted  in  many  rapids  and  falls.  In 
early  days  water  power  was  used  exclusively  for  the  running 
of  mills  and  factories,  and  thus  New  England  soon  became 
engaged  in  manufacturing  even  those  products  which  were 
brought  from  a  great  distance. 

All  this  is  rapidly  changing,  however,  since  other  motive 
power  has  been  developed,  and  manufacturing  is  now  mov- 
ing rapidly  westward  and  southward.  Several  hundred 
cotton  mills  are  running  to-day  in  the  Southern  states, 
Georgia  having  the  most ;  and  nearly  as  much  cotton  is 
now  manufactured  in  the  South  as  in  the  North.  Here  the 
raw  product  is  close  at  hand,  thus  saving  the  expense  of 
transportation.  Labor  is  cheaper  and  the  mills  may  be  run 
for  longer  hours.  Many  of  the  operatives  are  women  and 
children,  the  latter  often  entering  the  mill  at  eight  years  of 
age  or  even  younger. 


COTTON  63 

The  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  is  a  long,  intricate  proc- 
ess, and  the  only  way  really  to  understand  it  is  to  visit  a 
factory  and  see  the  work  done.  There  are  more  than  forty 
processes  before  the  fiber  is  transformed  into  cloth.  First 
the  cotton  is  cleaned  and  carded,  and  then  placed  in  ma- 
chines where  all  the  fibers  which  we  saw  so  tangled  in  the 
bolls  are  laid  nearly  parallel.  Similar  processes  are  repeated 
several  times  until  the  fibers  have  been  laid  straight  and 
smooth.  In  the  spinning  process  the  overlapping  fibers  are 
drawn  out  into  finer  threads  and  twisted  evenly  and  tightly. 
The  thread  is  then  wound  smoothly  on  spindles.  One 
spinning  machine  holds  several  hundred  spindles,  yet  so 
smoothly  does  it  work  that  it  is  tended  by  only  one  girl. 

After  being  dyed  the  thread  is  ready  for  weaving.  Take 
a  piece  of  cloth  and  unravel  it.  You  can  see  the  long  warp 
threads  running  lengthwise  of  the  cloth,  and,  woven  in  and 
out,  in  and  out,  over  and  back,  over  and  back,  the  cross- 
wise or  woof  threads  which  make  the  cloth  firm  and  solid. 
It  is  of  little  use  to  describe  the  looms  which  do  this  work, 
for  unless  you  have  actually  seen  the  operation  a  written 
description  cannot  mean  much. 

Many  people  in  other  countries  besides  our  own  are 
engaged  in  the  raising  and  manufacturing  of  cotton,  for, 
although  the  United  States  raises  three  fourths  or  more  of 
all  the  cotton  grown  in  the  world,  India  and  Egypt  are 
noted  also  for  their  production.  Both  of  these  countries  are 
under  the  control  of  England,  and  with  the  cotton  which 
she  imports  from  them,  together  with  the  greater  quantity 
sent  her  from  the  United  States,  she  has  become  the  largest 
cotton  manufacturing  country  in  the  world.  Manchester, 
the  center  of  the  industry,  is  connected  with  Liverpool  by 


64  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

a  ship  canal  which  aids  her  commerce  immensely.  All  Eu- 
ropean countries  would  be  glad  to  be  able  to  raise  in  their 
own  colonies  the  cotton  they  need  for  manufacturing,  and 
not  be  dependent  for  this  staple  upon  a  foreign  country 
like  the  United  States. 

When  we  enter  a  large  cotton  factory,  with  its  many  hun- 
dreds of  operatives,  and  listen  to  the  noise  and  clatter  of 
the  machinery,  we  cannot  but  contrast  it  with  the  days  long 
ago  when  cotton  was  cleaned,  spun,  and  woven  in  the  home 
by  the  use  of  the  fingers  only.  But  this  is  only  another 
illustration  of  the  fact  spoken  of  in  the  opening  chapter, 
that  it  is  no  longer  possible  for  one  person,  or  family,  or  city, 
or  even  country  to  live  independently,  supplying  all  needs 
at  home  and  furnishing  nothing  for  the  outside  world. 

We  do  not  know  how  long  it  is  since  people  first  began 
the  raising  and  weaving  of  cotton.  It  was  probably  many 
years  after  both  linen  and  wool  were  used.'  The  plant  is 
supposed  to  be  a  native  of  India,  though  of  that  fact  we  are 
not  sure.  When  the  cloth  was  first  used,  it  was  considered 
very  fine  indeed ;  history  tells  us  of  a  king  who  at  his 
coronation  wore  a  beautiful  cotton  robe. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 


1.  A  trip  to  Texas.  9.  Uses  of  cottonseed. 

2.  A  cotton  plantation.  10.  Value  of  cotton  crop. 

3.  Raising  cotton.  11.  United  States  cotton  belt. 

4.  Kinds  of  cotton.  12.  Exporting  cities. 

5.  Picking  cotton.  13.  Manufacturing  of  cotton. 

6.  Dangers  to  crop.  14.  Cotton  belt  of  the  world. 

7.  Cotton  ginning.  15.  History  of  cotton. 

8.  Shipping  cotton. 


COTTON  65 

II 

1.  Write  a  description  of  the  raising,  picking,   and  ginning  of 
cotton. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  things  you  can  think  of  which  are  made 
from  any  part  of  the  cotton  plant. 

3.  Mount  on  a  large  card  samples  showing  the  uses  of  cotton. 
See  which  row  of  the  class  can  get  the  greatest  number  of  articles 
and  mount  them  in  the  neatest  way. 

4.  On  a  map  of  the  world,  color  the  countries  producing  cotton. 
Write  the  names  of  all  the  bodies  of  water  on  which  a  vessel  would 
sail,  carrying  cotton  from  India  or  Egypt  to  England. 

5.  Describe  clearly  how  the  cloth  in  any  cotton  garment  you  have 
on  has  been  made. 

6.  Trace  a  map  of  the  United  States  and  locate  all  cities  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter. 

7.  Sketch  the  states  included  in  the  cotton  belt.    Number  each 
in  its  importance  in  the  production  of  cotton. 

8.  What  are  some  of  the  sights  you  would  wish  to  see  in  a  visit 
to  New  Orleans? 

Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  chapter. 

New  York  Kentucky 

New  Orleans  Mississippi 

Galveston  Georgia 

Memphis  Alabama 

Charleston  South  Carolina 

Savannah  Arkansas 

Norfolk  Tennessee 

Lowell  New  England 

Lawrence  Southern  states 

Fall  River  Cotton  region. 

Manchester,  N.  H.  Africa 

Manchester,  England.  Asia 

Texas  India 

North  Carolina  Egypt 

Massachusetts  All  water  routes  mentioned. 


CHAPTER  VII 
SUGAR 

How  much  sugar  do  you  suppose  a  person  eats  in  a  year 
in  his  food  and  drink  and  in  his  candy  and  other  sweet- 
meats ?  Statistics  show  that  in  the  United  States  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  eats  on  the  average  more  than  seventy 
pounds  a  year.  This  is  much  more  than  is  eaten  by  any 
other  nation.  Consequently,  although  we  produce  great 
quantities  of  it  every  year,  we  import  more  sugar  than  any 
other  product.  All  the  wheat  we  sell  annually  to  foreign 
countries  would  not  pay  for  the  sugar  we  import  in  the 
same  time. 

Sugar  cane,  which  is  the  best  known  of  sugar-producing 
plants,  was  introduced  into  America  by  the  Spaniards  in 
their  earliest  voyages.  It  is  a  cousin  of  the  Indian  corn  and 
closely  resembles  it.  Sorghum,  from  which  some  of  our 
molasses  is  made,  is  another  cousin.  Most  of  the  sugar  im- 
ported into  the  United  States  comes  from  islands  of  the 
warm  belt  where  cane  sugar  is  the  only  kind  produced. 
Therefore  we  use  more  of  that  kind ;  but  we  are  the  only 
nation  of  importance  of  which  this  is  true.  Can  you  name 
some  islands  from  which  we  receive  large  quantities  of  cane 
sugar  ? 

The  raising  of  beets  for  sugar  is  a  development  of  recent 
times.  This  industry  has  grown  so  rapidly  that  now  much 
more  sugar  is  made  from  beets  than  from  cane. 

66 


SUGAR  67 

A  third  variety  is  the  delicious  maple  sugar  which  we  all 
like  so  much.  The  amount  made  is,  however,  so  small  as  to 
be  of  very  little  importance  compared  with  either  of  the 
other  two  kinds. 

These  three  varieties,  cane,  beet,  and  maple  sugar,  are  all 
made  from  the  sap  or  juice  of  vegetable  growths  in  practi- 
cally the  same  way,  that  is,  by  boiling  down  and  purifying 
the  liquid.  The  methods  differ,  but  the  underlying  principle 
is  the  same  in  each. 

Still  another  product  which  we  might  class  with  the  vari- 
eties of  sugar  is  the  honey  made  by  bees  from  the  nectar 
of  flowers.  This  is  probably  the  earliest  form-  of  sugar  used 
by  man,  the  bees  thus  furnishing  the  sweetmeat  .before  man 
had  developed  sufficient  intellect  to  make  it  for  himself. 

Glucose  is  a  liquid  sugar  made  from  cornstarch  in  the 
United  States  and  from  potato  starch  in  France  and  Ger- 
many. It  is  used  for  confectionery  and  preserves  and  for 
mixing  with  molasses. 

To  see  a  typical  modern  sugar  plantation  let  us  go  to 
Louisiana,  for  most  of  the  cane  grown  in  the  United  States 
is  raised  in  that  state.  The  plantation  whicn  we  will  visit 
is  larger  than  the  average,  and  is  well  equipped  with  the 
latest  machinery  for  cultivating  the  plant  and  with  the 
most  recent  inventions  for  converting  the  juice  into  sugar. 

Our  trip  will  take  us  into  the  same  part  of  the  country 
where  cotton  is  grown,  for  sugar  cane  requires  for  its  growth 
a  tropical  or  warm  temperate  climate.  Taking  a  train  from 
New  Orleans,  we  are  carried  farther  and  farther  northward 
into  the  heart  of  Louisiana.  For  much  of  the  way,  on  both 
sides  of  the  track,  we  see  only  the  fields  of  waving  cane. 
In  places  it  is  so  tall  that  a  person  on  horseback  would  be 


68  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

completely  hidden  from  sight.  We  might  think  we  were  in 
the  Kansas  cornfields  were  it  not  that  the  cane  is  nearly 
twice  as  tall. 

Mr.  Blank's  plantation,  at  which  we  finally  arrive,  consists 
of  several  thousand  acres,  the  most  of  which  is  devoted  to 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  25.    PLANTING  CANE 


sugar  cane.  Some  parts  of  the  farm  stretch  so  far  away 
from  the  sugarhouse  that  a  private  railway  several  miles 
long  has  been  built,  over  which  the  stalks  are  carried  to  the 
factory ;  we  can  also  follow  good  wagon  roads  for  miles 
through  the  forests  of  waving  cane. 


SUGAR 


(39 


From  the  overseer  we  learn  something  of  the  methods  of 
planting.  The  land  is  first  plowed  and  thrown  into  ridges 
from  six  to  eight  feet  apart.  Then  a  small  trench  is  made 
in  the  top  of  each  ridge,  and  in  each  trench  two  or  three 
rows  of  cuttings  from  the  main  stalk  are  laid  end  to  end. 
A  machine  has  been  invented  for  covering  the  cuttings, 


Copyright,  Detroit  Pub.  Co. 

FIG.  26.    CUTTING  CANE  ON  A  CUBAN  SUGAR  PLANTATION 

though  on  the  smaller  plantations  this  is  still  done  by  hand. 
The  expense  of  planting  a  large  plantation  is  great,  for  from 
four  to  six  tons  of  cane  are  required  for  each  acre. 

The  new  shoots  spring  from  the  joints  of  the  cuttings, 
and  soon  the  rich,  dark  fields  are  covered  with  waving, 
green  leaves.  The  plant  grows  rapidly  under  the  heat  of 
the  southern  sun,  and  by  harvest  time  has  attained  a  height 


70  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

of  perhaps  fifteen  feet.  For  several  years  the  cane  will 
spring  up  from  the  same  roots,  but  it  will  gradually  become 
of  a  poorer  quality.  Then  the  old  roots  are  plowed  up  and 
new  cuttings  planted.  Where  cane  and  labor  are  plentiful 
this  is  done  every  year,  although  in  Louisiana  the  stubble 
is  capable  of  producing  a  good  crop  a  second  and  even  a 
third  year. 

Harvesting  begins  usually  in  October.  It  is  better  to  let 
the  cane  grow  just  as  late  as  possible,  as  it  is  in  the  latter 
part  of  its  life  that  the  sugar  forms  most  rapidly ;  but  it 
must  be  cut  before  frost  comes  to  injure  it. 

Colored  workmen,  using  a  large  knife  made  for  the 
purpose,  go  through  the  fields  cutting  the  stalks  very  close 
to  the  ground.  The  lower  part  of  the  stalk  yields  the  most 
sugar,  so  the  plant  is  cut  as  near  the  roots  as  possible.  The 
leaves  and  tops  are  trimmed  off,  and  the  stalks  are  laid  in 
piles  as  the  cutteX'  proceeds. 

On  this  large,  modern  plantation  the  cane  is  loaded  by 
machinery  and  quickly  carried  to  the  factory  where  the 
juice  is  to  be  extracted.  From  wagons  or  cars  the  stalks  are 
thrown  upon  a  moving  belt  which  carries  them  to  the  top 
of  the  mill.  They  are  first  cut  or  shredded  into  small  pieces 
and  then  crushed  between  heavy  rollers.  The  crushed 
stalks  from  which  the  juice  has  been  removed  are  used  in 
the  furnace,  thus  saving  the  cost  of  fuel. 

The  juice  which  has  been  squeezed  out  is  carried  by  pipes 
to  large  screens  through  which  it  is  strained.  After  this  it 
H'oes  through  several  processes,  one  of  the  most  important 
of  which  is  the  boiling  in  large  tanks  with  milk  of  lime. 
Boiling  causes  the  impurities  to  separate  from  the  clear 
sirup,  which  is  drawn  off  by  pipes  into  large  pans.  Here 


SUGAR  71 

it  is  boiled  down  and  crystallized  into  a  brownish  mass 
known  as  crude  or  raw  sugar. 

The  sirup  or  molasses  which  is  left  still  contains  a  great 
deal  of  sugar,  so  it  is  boiled  again,  and  often  a  third  time, 
in  order  to  obtain  from  it  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of 
sugar.  Each  boiling  results  in  a  poorer  quality  of  both 
sugar  and  molasses.  The  molasses  which  we  use  in  our 
homes  is  that  obtained  from  the  first  boiling  of  cane  juice, 
from  sorghum,  or  from  a  glucose  mixture.  The  molasses 
which  is  finally  left  after  the  rebelling  is  considered  of  little 
value  and  is  looked  upon  by  Southern  plantation  owners 
as  a  waste  product. 

The  raw  sugar  is  next  sent  to  the  refinery,  where  it  goes 
through  many  processes  of  boiling,  purifying,  and  filtering, 
until  it  finally  drops  into  huge  bins.  From  here  it  slides 
down  through  shutes  or  spouts  into  hogsheads,  in  which  it 
is  shipped  away  for  distribution. 

The  difference  in  price  between  raw  sugar  and  the  pure, 
white  product  after  it  is  refined  is  less  than  a  cent  a  pound. 
The  machinery  for  refining  is  expensive  and  the  process 
complicated,  so  it  is  done  only  in  very  large  quantities. 
Consequently,  instead  of  many  small  refineries  scattered 
through  the  South,  there  are  a  comparatively  few  mammoth 
plants  centered  in  cities  to  which  immense  quantities  can 
be  shipped  from  our  own  sugar  area  and  from  foreign 
sugar-producing  countries.  Refineries  will  accordingly  be 
found  in  our  great  seaports.  The  most  important  ones  are 
situated  in  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  and  San  Francisco.  These  cities 
import  raw  beet  and  cane  sugar  from  all  over  the  world, 
and  send  out  the  refined  product  to  the  distributing  cities. 


72  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Can  you  name  some  of  these  cities,  and  find  on  your  map 
the  routes  over  which  much  of  the  sugar  will  pass  ? 

Louisiana  produces  the  greater  part  of  the  sugar  crop  of 
the  United  States.  The  lowlands  of  the  flood  plains  and 
delta  of  the  Mississippi  River  are  especially  adapted  to  this 
crop.  Other  lowlands  in  adjoining  states  are  used  for  the 
same  purpose ;  Texas  especially  is  increasing  her  output 
year  by  year.  Nearly  all  the  sugar  produced  in  the  country 
is  furnished  by  these  two  states. 

A  great  deal  of  cane  sugar  comes  to  the  United  States 
from  our  island  dependencies  to  be  refined.  Sugar  raising 
is  the  chief  industry  both  in  Cuba  and  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  is  of  great  importance  in  the  Philippines.  Of 
all  places  where  sugar  is  produced,  Cuba  holds  first  rank, 
though  it  finds  a  close  rival  in  Java,  in  the  East  Indies. 

Not  only  Cuba  and  Java  but  the  other  East  and  West 
India  Islands  raise  sugar  in  great  quantities ;  in  fact,  it  is 
their  most  important  crop.  Most  of  the  work  is  done  by 
hand,  and  the  amount  raised  could  be  largely  increased  by 
the  introduction  of  modern  machinery.  The  industry  has 
suffered  because  of  the  rapid  development  of  beet  sugar 
and  its  competition  in  the  market. 

Much  of  the  molasses  produced  in  the  West  Indies  is 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  rum.  This  industry  has  been 
carried  to  such  an  extent  in  Jamaica,  that  Jamaica  rum  is 
noted  the  world  over. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell,  either  by  appearance  or  by  taste, 
whether  sugar  is  made  from  cane  or  from  beets.  If  we 
could  test  the  raw  sugar,  we  could  distinguish  that  which 
comes  from  the  beet  very  easily,  for  it  has  a  disagreeable 
odor  and  taste,  which  arc  removed  by  refining. 


SUGAR 


73 


The  history  of  beet  sugar  is  interesting.  It  was  not  dis- 
covered by  accident,  as  so  many  of  our  useful  products 
have  been.  It  was  made  after  years  of  painstaking,  unsuc- 
cessful, and  costly  experiments.  A  German  apothecary  first 
discovered  the  presence  of  sugar  in  beets  in  1747,  and  soon 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  27.   PICKANINNIES'   CANDY  STORE 

both  French  and  German  chemists  were  at  work  trying  to 
devise  some  method  by  which  it  could  be  extracted  cheaply 
enough  to  be  commercially  profitable.  The  problem  offered 
great  difficulties,  for  it  is  hard  to  get  rid  of  certain  impuri- 
ties which  are  found  in  the  juice  of  the  beet.  The  chemists 


74  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

attained  no  great  success  in  their  researches  until  after  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  a  new  impetus 
was  given  to  the  work. 

England  and  France  were  at  war  at  this  time,  and  as 
ports  were  blockaded  by  the  hostile  fleets  prices  of  all 
products  were  greatly  increased.  Sugar  was  sold  at  a  dollar 
or  two  a  pound.  Knowing  that  the  sugar  beet  would  grow 
well  in  French  soil,  Napoleon  offered  a  prize  to  any  one  who 
would  successfully  demonstrate  how  sugar  could  be  profit- 
ably made  from  its  juice.  The  result  was  that  before  the 
close  of  the  first  half  of  the  century  the  beet-sugar  industry 
grew  to  be  of  great  importance  in  both  France  and  Germany. 

Its  growth  hi  the  United  States  has  been  more  recent 
but  during  the  past  few  years  very  rapid  indeed.  This 
rapid  development  has  been  largely  due  to  the  aid  given  by 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  of  ow'  federal  government 
and  by  the  various  state  governments.  They  have  established 
experiment  stations  where  crops  of  beets  have  been  raised 
and  sugar  extracted  by  the  best  and  cheapest  methods. 
They  have  sent  seed  to  the  farmers  and  have  otherwise 
aided  in  familiarizing  the  people  with  this  new  crop. 

Germany  is  at  present  the  foremost  country  in  the  manu- 
facture of  beet  sugar,  producing  one  fourth  of  the  world's 
supply.  It  is  the  largest-  industrial  staple  of  that  empire, 
although  the  German  people  consume  per  head  only  one 
third  as  much  sugar  as  we  do  in  the  United  States.  The 
industry  is  well  developed  in  Austria,  France,  and  Russia. 
These  four  European  countries  all  manufacture  more  sugar 
than  they  use,  and  therefore  export  much  of  the  prodiu  i. 

The  beets  require  more  care  and  labor  Ln  the  raising  than- 
some  other  crops,  but  the  income  from  them  is  also  greater. 


SUGAR  75 

The  plowing  of  the  land  must  be  deep  in  order  to  supply 
a  uniform  amount  of  moisture  to  the  plant  during  its  growth. 
Furrows  are  laid  out  and  the  seed  dropped  by  a  machine 
which  will  sow  and  cover  several  rows  at  once.  After  this 
the  land  must  be  thoroughly  rolled.  Soon  the  plants  appear, 
and  must  be  thinned  out  by  hand,  weeded,  cultivated,  and 
tended  very  carefully  during  their  growth.  Harvesting  is 
delayed  as  late  as  possible,  for,  as  in  the  case  of  the  cane, 
the  sugar  forms  most  rapidly  as  the  plant  approaches  matu- 
rity. The  beets  are  plowed  loose,  and  then  pulled  by  hand. 
Boys  are  employed  to  "  top  "  them,  after  which  they  are  sent 
to  the  factory.  If  that  is  too  full  to  receive  them,  they  are 
piled  up  and  covered  with  the  tops  or  with  a  layer  of  soil. 

Arriving  at  the  factory,  the  beets  are  washed  and  then 
dropped  upon  sharp  knives  which  cut  them  in  pieces.  They 
are  then  soaked  in  warm  water  and  pressed.  This  extracts 
"the  juice,  which,  while  being  boiled  down  and  converted 
into  sugar,  goes  through  many  complicated  processes  to 
remove  the  impurities.  There  are  more  than  sixty  factories 
in  the  United  States  where  this  work  is  done,  and  more  are 
being  built  each  year.  The  states  which  are  the  foremost 
in  the  manufacture  of  beet  sugar  are  California,  Michigan, 
Colorado,  Utah,  and  Nebraska,  and  the  industry  is  growing 
rapidly  both  in  these  and  in  other  states.  In  Michigan 
large  beet  farms  may  be  seen  to-day  on  lands  formerly 
covered  by  timber.  As  the  forests  were  cut  off,  it  was 
found  that  the  soil  was  suitable  for  the  raising  of  beets,  and 
the  lumber  mills  and  sawmills  are  being  replaced  by  beet 
farms  and  sugar  factories. 

As  it  is  cheaper  to  raise  the  beets  near  the  factories,  you 
would  see  in  the  vicinity  large  fields  devoted  to  that  industry. 


76 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


From  three  to  five  thousand  acres  of  beets  are  necessary 
to  insure  product  enough  for  one  factory.  The  sugar-mak- 
ing season  comes  after  the  harvesting  and  lasts  for  three 
months  or  more.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  factory  is  idle 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  28.    TAPPING  A  SUGAR-MAPLE  TREE 

save  for  necessary  repairs  or  improvements.    The  workmen 
can  usually  find  employment  on  the  neighboring  farms. 

In  this  industry,  as  in  so  many  others,  the  waste  prod- 
ucts are  utilized.  The  pulp  of  the  beet,  after  the  juice  has 
been  extracted,  has  been  found  to  be  a  good  cattle  food, 
tu id  dairies  arc  now  bcin<»'  run  in  connection  with  sonic 


SUGAR 


77 


factories.  The  beet  tops  are  fed  to  cattle  to  some  extent, 
but  are  more  valuable  as  a  fertilizer,  giving  back  to  the 
soil  some  of  the  elements  taken  from  it  in  the  growth  of 
the  plant,  and  thus  helping  to  prevent  soil  exhaustion. 

The  cane  and  beet  sugar  we  have  all  the  year  round. 
There  is  no  time  when  we  look  forward  to  a  fresh  supply, 


Copyright,  Detroit  Pub.  Co. 

FIG.  29.    GATHERING  SAP  IN  A  MAPLE-SUGAR  CAMP 

as  we  do  in  the  spring  for  the  first  maple  sugar  of  the 
season.  How  delicious  that  must  have  seemed  to  those 
early  New  England  settlers  when  they  first  learned,  perhaps 
from  the  Indians,  how  to  make  it ! 

Maple  sugar  is  made  from  the  sap  of  the  rock,  or  sugar, 
maple,  and  wherever  this  tree  grows  maple  sugar  can  be 
made.  At  present  Vermont,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania 


78 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


are  the  states  which  produce  the  most.  The  trees  are  tapped 
in  the  early  spring  when  the  sap  begins  to  flow.  A  hole 
from  one  and  one  half  to  two  inches  deep  is  bored  into  the 


Copyright,  Detroit  Pub.  Co. 

FKI.  30.    MAKING  SIRUP  IN  THE  GOOD  OLD-FASHION  KD  WAV 

tree,  and  a  spout  is  inserted ;  a  bucket  is  hung  below,  and 
the  sap  which  collects  is  emptied  every  day  and  carried  to 
the  sugarlmusc.  Here  it  is  strained  and  boiled  down  into 


SI  (iAR  79 

sirup  or  sugar.  In  the  early  days  of  our  history  the  "  sugar- 
ing off  "  was  a  social  event  of  the  year.  Young  and  old 
gathered  around  the  kettles  and  mingled  much  fun  and 
frolic  with  the  work  of  tending  the  fire  and  stirring  and 
testing  the  sirup. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 
I 

1.  History  of  sugar. 

2.  Kinds  of  sugar. 

3.  A  trip  to  Louisiana. 

4.  Cane    sugar :   the    plant ;    a    sugar   plantation ;   manufacture ; 
sugar  belt. 

5.  Beet  sugar :  history ;  methods  of  raising  sugar  beets ;  manu- 
facture ;  area  of  production. 

6.  Maple  sugar :  area  of  production  ;  manufacture. 


II 

1.  Take  the  trip  from  your  homo  town  to  New  Orleans.    If  your 
journey  is  by  land,  over  what  railroads  will  you  go?    If  by  water, 
name  the  bodies  sailed  upon  and  the  states  passed  through  or  by. 

2.  On  a  map  of  the  world,  paste  pictures  of  beets  or  sugar  cane 
on  islands  or  countries  where  each  is  grown. 

3.  Trace  a  map  of  the  United  States  and  draw  a  picture  of  beets, 
or  cane,  or  a  maple  tree  in  the  states  noted  for  sugar.    Color  the  states 
in  each  section. 

4.  Locate  all  cities  containing  great  sugar  refineries.   Trace  routes 
from  islands  and  foreign  countries  from  which  sugar  is  sent.    Try 
to  find  railroads  over  which  raw  sugar  from  cities  in  the  United 
States  is  sent.    Find  the  railroads  by  which  sugar  may  be  sent  from 
the  refining  cities  to  other  distributing  centers. 

5.  Compare  methods  of  sugar  raising  in  our  own  country  and  in 
Cuba  or  Java. 

6.  Tell  all  the  likenesses  and  differences  you  can  think  of  in  the 
beet,  cane,  and  maple  sugar  industries. 


80  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

III 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  the  previous 
chapter. 

\f\v  Orleans  Austria  Nebraska 

New  York  France  Vermont 

Brooklyn  Russia  New  York 

Jersey  City  England  Cuba 

Philadelphia  Louisiana  Hawaiian  Islands 

Boston  Kansas  Philippine  Islands 

Baltimore  California  West  Indies 

San  Francisco  Michigan  East  Indies 

India  Colorado  Jamaica 

Italy  Utah  Java 
Germany 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FRUIT 

If  the  people  of  one  hundred  years  ago  could  visit  the 
earth  to-day,  they  would  find  many  things  of  which  they 
never  dreamed :  instruments  by  means  of  which  people  one 
hundred  miles  or  more  apart  can  converse,  messages  sent 
thousands  of  miles  in  a  minute,  floating  palaces  for  ocean 
travel,  luxurious  parlor  cars  in  which  we  may  ride  at  ease 
over  plains  and  mountains,  valuable  crops  grown  where  no 
rain  falls,  and  other  changes  that  would  seem  to  them 
miraculous. 

Could  we  come  back  to  earth  in  some  future  century,  we 
should,  no  doubt,  find  things  as  strange  to  us.  Could  we 
enjoy  a  dinner  with  the  people  of  the  future,  we  should  be 
much  surprised  at  some  of  the  food  set  before  us.  We 
should  find  ourselves  ignorant  of  the  names  of  some  of  the 
fruits  and  perhaps  unfamiliar  with  the  flowers  decorating 
the  room.  For  our  dessert  we  might  partake  of  white  black- 
berries picked  from  thornless  bushes,  plums  with  no  stones, 
or  apples  without  seeds.  We  might  taste  of  a  plum  and 
from  the  flavor  think  we  were  eating  a  pear.  You  may 
smile  at  the  thought,  yet  some  of  these  strange  fruits  have 
already  been  produced.  Experiments  are  constantly  going 
on  by  which  men  are  trying  to  improve  the  common  fruits 
and  to  make  them  capable  of  yielding  more  abundantly,  to 
make  them  hardier  and  better  able  to  stand  frost,  to  adapt 
them  to  many  kinds  of  soil  and  climate,  and,  more  wonder- 
ful than  all,  to  make  them  produce  new  varieties. 

81 


82  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Of  these  wonder-workers,  the  man  who  is  the  most  noted 
is  Luther  Burbank,  of  Santa  Rosa,  California.  For  years  he 
has  patiently  toiled  among  his  trees  and  shrubs,  carefully 
transferring  the  pollen  of  one  flower  to  the  seed  vessel  of 
another,  and  grafting  scions  on  staid,  respectable  trees,  so 
that  one  apple  tree  may  bear  at  the  same  time  many  varieties. 


FIG.  31.    ONE  OF  LUTHER  BURBANK'S  PRODUCTIONS 

The  large  plum  has  been  raised  from  the  small  one 

(Courtesy  of  Mr.  Luther  Burbank) 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  study  some  of  the  principal  fruits 
raised  in  our  country  to-day ;  yet  in  a  comparatively  few 
years  there  may  be  many  others  of  which  we  are  no\v 
ignorant. 

In    the.   United   States   immense   quantities   of   fruit  arc 
raised,  and  there  are  very  few  parts  of  tlic  country  \\licre 


FRUIT  83 

some  variety  will  not  grow.  In  the  desert  land  the  cactus 
flourishes,  bearing  its  little  dried-up  fruit.  By  its  sharp 
spines  and  thorns  the  plant  is  rendered  useless  to  the 
cattle  that  would  feed  upon  it.  But  the  wizard  of  horti- 
culture, Luther  Burbank,  has  developed  a  thornless  cactus 
with  large,  juicy,  nourishing  fruit,  so  that  even  these  waste 
portions  of  our  country  may  be  capable  in  the  future  of 
supporting  life. 

What  kind  of  fruit  farm  shall  we  visit  first  ?  Out  of  all 
the  variety  which  our  country  affords,  we  have  a  wide 
choice.  If  we  go  to  the  Coastal  Plain  and  the  Piedmont 
Belt  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  we 
shall  find  many  farms  where  grapes,  strawberries,  apples, 
peaches,  and  other  fruits  are  raised  and  shipped  to  the  large 
cities  for  distribution.  What  cities  in  this  region  would 
you  select  as  the  great  distributing  centers  ? 

The  canning  of  fruits  and  vegetables  is  an  important 
industry,  and  in  Baltimore  and  Wilmington  there  are  great 
factories  where  this  work  is  carried  on.  See  if  you  can 
find  the  names  of  these  or  other  cities  on  the  cans  which 
your  mother  buys. 

If  we  go  farther  south  to  Florida,  we  shall  probably 
select  an  orange  grove  for  our  first  visit,  though  we  shall 
wish  to  see  also  the  farms  where  pineapples,  bananas,  and 
lemons  are  raised. 

If  we  decide  to  remain  in  the  North,  we  shall  find  im- 
mense peach  orchards  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  and  on  the  southern 
shores  of  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Ontario.  The  water  tempers 
the  climate  of  this  region,  and  the  peaches  flourish  as  well 
here  as  farther  south  in  Delaware  and  Maryland. 


84  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Just  south  of  Lake  Erie  is  the  Chautauqua  grape  belt, 
lying  partly  in  New  York  and  extending  into  Ohio.  From 
this  region  alone  more  than  five  thousand  carloads  are 
shipped  each  year,  most  of  which  are  the  well-known  Con- 
cords. The  original  vine,  from  which  millions  have  sprung,  is 
still  living  near  Concord,  Massachusetts,  where  that  grape 
was  first  developed  from  a  wild  variety  found  near  at  hand. 
Although  we  see  such  quantities  of  the  Concord  grape 
every  year,  we  must  remember  that  it  is  only  one  of  a  thou- 
sand varieties  grown  in  our  country  to-day. 

The  most  wonderful  place  by  far  to  visit,  if  we  wish  to 
see  fruit  farms,  is  California.  We  can  hardly  imagine  the 
acres  and  acres  of  orange  and  lemon  groves,  peach,  plum, 
and  olive  orchards,  and  the  millions  of  grapevines  which 
we  can  find  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  state.  There  are 
besides  vast  fields  given  over  to  almonds,  walnuts,  figs, 
apricots,  and  many  other  varieties  of  fruit.  A  strange  sight 
to  Eastern  eyes  are  the  great  fields,  sometimes  containing 
hundreds  of  acres,  covered  with  trays  filled  with  apricots, 
peaches,  and  figs  drying  in  the  sun,  plums  changing  into 
prunes,  and  grapes  into  raisins.  Such  industries  are  not 
possible  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  but  in  southern 
California  no  rain  falls  from  May  until  late  October,  and 
in  the  hot,  dry  air  the  fruit  dries  without  decaying.  Thou- 
sands of  pounds  of  dried  fruit,  including  great  quantities  of 
raisins,  are  shipped  every  year  to  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  fact  connected  with  this 
busy  industrial  life  is  that  many  of  these  fertile  farms,  f ra- 
in-ant  with  blossoms,  green  with  grass  and  shrubs,  and  with 
cooling  shade  trees,  were  but  a  few  years  ago  dry,  desert 
wastes.  The  only  tiling  needed  to  work  the  miracle,  by 


FRUIT  85 

which  a  desert  was  changed  into  a  garden,  was  water. 
By  canals  and  ditches  the  life-giving  streams  are  brought 
from  the  mountains  near  by,  and  presto,  change !  the 
desert  gives  place  to  fertile  farms  and  pleasant  homes. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  32.    TEN  THOUSAND  ACRES  OF  ORANGE  GROVES 
IN  CALIFORNIA 

San  Francisco  is  the  great  shipping  port  for  many  of  these 
fruits  and  vegetables,  which  are  sent  over  the  ocean  or  across 
the  continent.  Many  vessels  loaded  with  fruits,  fresh, 
canned,  and  dried,  sail  from  her  harbor,  and  many  trains 
loaded  with  similar  freight  leave  daily  for  the  East. 


86  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

ORANGES 

Let  us  first  of  all  visit  an  orange  farm,  and  see  how  this 
fruit,  of  which  we  are  so  fond,  is  raised  and  prepared  for 
market.  There  are  three  principal  areas  in  the  United 
States  where  we  might  find  orange  groves :  in  Florida, 
Louisiana,  and  California.  We  will  choose  California  be- 
cause that  state  contains  more  and  larger  groves  than  either 
of  the  other  two.  Thirty  thousand  carloads  of  oranges  have 
been  sent  out  of  the  state  in  one  year.  What  an  immense 
quantity !  What  large  farms  and  what  great  numbers  of 
them  there  must  be  to  produce  such  an  amount. 

Redlands  is  a  typical,  thriving  orange  town  and  con- 
tains fifteen  factories  where  the  fruit  is  packed  for  market, 
besides  a  large  marmalade  factory  which  makes  nearly 
two  hundred .  and  fifty  thousand  jars  of  marmalade  each 
season.  When  we  know  that  nearly  four  thousand  car- 
loads of  oranges  are  shipped  each  year  from  this  one 
town,  we  realize  what  a  large  number  of  groves  must 
lie  all  around  it. 

The  orange  trees  are  very  beautiful  with  their  dark, 
glossy,  evergreen  leaves,  fragrant  blossoms,  and  balls  of 
yellow  fruit.  As  far  as  one  can  see,  there  are  acres  and  acres 
of  just  such  trees.  When  we  notice  how  thickly  the  fruit 
hangs  on  some  of  them,  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that 
one  tree  has  been  known  to  bear  ten  thousand  oranges  in 
a  single  year.  That  is  not  usual,  however,  for  the  average 
tree  yields  annually  only  from  five  hundred  to  two  thou- 
sand. The  trees  begin  to  bear  when  about  five  years  old, 
and  continue  to  produce  fruit  until  fifty  years  of  age  and 
even  longer. 


FRUIT 


87 


From  Stereograph  Copyright,  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

FIG.  33.    IRRIGATING  AN  ORANGE  GROVE  IN  CALIFORNIA 

They  are  usually  planted  twenty  or  more  feet  apart,  in 
rows,  with  furrows  between  for  the  water,  which  is  let  in 
from  time  to  time  to  moisten  the  soil.  In  southern  California 
the  trees  grow  rapidly  and  bear  early  and  well,  for  the 


88  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

climate  is  uniform,  the  average  temperature  in  some  places 
not  varying  more  than  eight  or  ten  degrees  between  winter 
and  summer.  There  is  plenty  of  sunshine  also,  for  there  are 
usually  more  than  three  hundred  sunny  days  each  year. 

The  trees  are  grown  with  short  trunks,  so  that  the  lowest 
branches  hang  near  the  ground.  The  fruit  is  picked  by 
reaching  from  the  ground  or  from  stepladders.  The  picking 
is  carried  on  chiefly  during  the  winter  months,  from  Novem- 
ber to  February  or  March.  It  is  done  very  carefully,  in 
order  that  the  oranges  may  not  be  bruised,  for  in  that  case 
they  decay  rapidly.  Not  all  the  fruit  is  picked  at  once,  as 
it  does  not  all  ripen  at  the  same  time.  The  picked  fruit  is 
taken  to  a  factory,  where  it  is  cleaned,  sorted,  and  packed  by 
machinery,  read)'  to  be  shipped  away. 

Los  Angeles  is  situated  in  the  center  of  a  region  well 
adapted  to  the  raising  of  this  fruit,  and  the  industry  has 
contributed  much  to  the  growth  of  the  city.  The  oranges 
which  were  exported  in  one  year  were  worth  one  and  one 
fourth  million  dollars.  The  income  from  this  one  year's 
product  would  be  sufficient  to  give  about  seven  dollars  to 
each  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  "  City  of  the  Angels." 

Florida  used  to  raise  many  more  oranges  than  she  does 
tq-day  ;  but  in  1895  there  came  a  cold  wave  which  extended 
much  farther  south  than  usual  and  destroyed  thousands 
and  thousands  of  trees.  The  fragrant  white  blossoms  were 
turned  black,  the  fruit  was  spoiled,  and  even  the  sap  in  the 
trees  was  so  chilled  that  many  died.  Thousands  of  dollars 
were  lost,  and  the  fanners  decided  to  raise  in  the  future 
crops  which  would  not  be  so  easily  injured  by  frost.  Con- 
sequently, at  the  present  time  Florida  is  raising  a  greater 
variety  of  fruits  and  vegetables  than  ever  before.  Peaches, 


FRUIT  89 

pears,  lettuce,  tomatoes,  celery,  potatoes,  and  other  prod- 
ucts of  the  temperate  climate  are  sent  out  from  the  state  in 
great  quantities.  Quick  transportation  by  express  and  fast 
freight  enables  the  Florida  farmer  to  send  to  the  North 
many  early  spring  delicacies,  which  are  now  sold  more 
cheaply  than  ever  before.  The  orange  industry  has  moved 
to  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  where  the  more  tropical 
productions  —  bananas,  pineapples,  and  grapefruit  —  are 
also  grown. 

LEMONS 

One  of  the  newest  industries  in  California  is  lemon  cul- 
ture. The  raising  of  this  fruit  has  long  been  an  important 
industry  in  the  Mediterranean  countries,  and  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  last  century  we  imported  from  that  region 
several  million  dollars'  worth.  Since  the  cultivation  of 
lemons  has  been  introduced  into  the  United  States,  we  have 
reduced  our  importations  more  than  one  third,  with  a  future 
outlook  of  much  greater  reduction. 

Lemon  culture  in  Florida  was  given  a  setback  by  the 
freeze  of  1895,  but  many  groves  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
state  are  still  flourishing.  The  lemon  grows  most  success- 
fully, however,  in  southern  California  near  the  coast.  The 
region  is  in  nearly  the  same  latitude  as  the  southern  parts 
of  the  Mediterranean  countries,  and  like  them  receives  from 
the  ocean  the  winds  which  modify  the  temperature.  Frosts 
are  infrequent,  but  when  they  do  come  are  very  injurious, 
and  much  money  is  spent  in  preventing  damage  from  this 
cause. 

The  lemon  tree  is  a  perpetual  bearer,  and  the  fragrant 
blossoms,  the  small,  green  fruit,  and  the  larger  lemons 


90  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

ready  for  picking  can  all  be  found  on  the  tree  at  the  same 
time.  The  gathering  of  the  fruit  is  an  interesting  process. 
Every  picker  has,  hanging  from  his  shoulder,  a  canvas  bag 
with  a  wire  bottom,  into  which  the  fruit  is  dropped.  In  one 
hand  he  carries  a  knife  and  in  the  other,  attached  to  his 
thumb,  he  has  a  steel  ring  about  two  and  one  fourth  inches 
in  diameter.  Before  a  lemon  is  cut  from  the  tree  it  is  meas- 
ured by  this  ring,  and  if  it  is  too  small  it  is  allowed  to 
remain  until  it  grows  to  a  proper  size. 

Many  of  the  pickers  in  California  are  Japanese.  They 
are  well  paid  for  their  work,  their  wages  varying  from  one 
to  two  dollars  per  day.  The  pay  in  the  Mediterranean 
countries  is  much  less.  The  native  pickers  of  Sicily,  for 
example,  receive  less  than  fifty  cents  for  a  day's  work, 
while  the  women  sometimes  receive  as  little  as  ten  or  fifteen 
cents.  This  difference  in  wages  increases  the  cost  of  the 
California  lemon,  and  it  must  prove  itself  a  superior  fruit 
in  order  to  induce  people  to  buy  it. 

Lemons  are  usually  taken  from  the  tree  before  they  are 
fully  ripe.  They  are  carefully  washed  by  means  of  a  wheel 
on  the  edges  of  which  brushes  are  fixed.  As  the  wheel 
revolves,  these  brushes  dip  into  troughs  of  water  containing 
the  lemons,  and  thoroughly  clean  them.  All  this  is  done  in 
so  careful  a  way  that  if  the  lemons  were  as  fragile  as  eggs 
few  would  be  broken.  Great  care  is  also  necessary  in  pick- 
ing and  packing,  as  the  slightest  bruise  causes  the  lemon  to 
decay  much  more  quickly  than  if  perfectly  sound. 

After  they  are  washed,  they  are  sorted  and  dried,  and 
then  laid  in  trays  about  two  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide 
but  only  three  inches  in  depth.  These  trays  are  stacked  in 
the  curing  house,  one  above  the  otluT,  allowing  air 


FRUIT  91 

between.  In  these  the  lemons  are  left  until  yellow  and  fit 
for  shipping.  The  fruit  is  sold  in  much  greater  quantity  in 
summer  than  in  winter ;  therefore  much  of  the  crop  which  is 
picked  during  the  winter  months  is  left  in  the  curing  house 
until  the  hot  season  creates  a  demand.  Then  the  lemons 
are  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  we  enjoy  the 
refreshing  lemonade  and  cooling  ices  made  from  their  juice. 
The  California  lemon  is  larger,  smoother,  and  perhaps 
rather  more  juicy  than  its  European  cousin,  and  is  conse- 
quently growing  in  popularity.  The  two  thousand  carloads 
of  this  fruit  which  are  shipped  annually  from  the  state  may 
seem  a  small  amount  compared  with  the  greater  quantities 
of  other  fruits,  but  we  must  remember  that  the  lemon 
industry  is  still  in  its  infancy.  Its  future,  however,  seems 
promising,  for  the  climate  and  soil  of  California  are  well 
adapted  to  its  development. 

GRAPES 

Scarcely  less  interesting  than  the  orange  and  lemon  cul- 
ture is  that  of  the  grape,  and  here  again  we  have  a  choice 
of  location  ft  we  wish  to  visit  large  vineyards.  As  in  the 
orange  industry,  we  find  three  chief  regions  in  our  country 
where  the  grape  is  cultivated.  We  have  already  spoken  of 
the  Chautauqua  grape  belt  in  New  York  and  Ohio,  where 
the  Concord  grape  is  raised  almost  exclusively,  and  where 
we  might  drive  for  miles  between  vineyards  fragrant  with 
blossoms  or  loaded  with  the  luscious  fruit.  If  we  prefer 
the  small  Delaware  grape,  then  we  must  go  to  the  Atlantic 
states,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  New  Jersey.  But  if  we 
wish  to  see  great  vineyards  loaded  with  huge  clusters  of 
white  grapes,  to  visit  the  fields  where  tons  of  these  are 


92  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

being  changed  by  the  dry  air  and  bright  sunshine  into 
sweet,  brown  raisins,  or  to  learn  about  the  great  quan- 
tities of  wine  which  our  country  is  making,  then  we  must 
stay  in  California. 

The  largest  grapevine  in  the  world  is  growing  in  Cali- 
fornia. It  covers  one  half  an  acre,  and  several  hundred 
people  might  enjoy  its  shade  at  the  same  time.  The  main 
trunk  is  seven  and  one  half  feet  in  circumference.  Think 
of  that,  you  who  think  of  the  grape  as  a  slender,  clinging 
vine.  Most  wonderful  of  all,  this  immense  vine  bears  ten 
tons  of  grapes  every  year ! 

There  is  one  raisin  vineyard  in  Los  Angeles  County 
which  covers  five  thousand  acres  or  nearly  eight  square 
miles.  This  is  the  largest  vineyard  in  the  world,  and  be- 
longed to  Leland  Stanford,  the  founder  of  the  Leland  Stan- 
ford Junior  University.  If  we  reckon  three  tons  of  grapes 
to  an  acre,  which  is  a  modest  estimate,  think  of  the  immense 
quantity  which  is  raised  on  this  one  farm.  Fifteen  thou- 
sand tons !  Now  if  I  tell  you  that  three  or  four  pounds  of 
grapes  will  yield  one  pound  of  raisins,  perhaps  you  can 
find  out  how  many  pounds  or  tons  of  raisins  come  from 
this  one  vineyard.  And  when  we  think  that  this  is  only 
one  farm  of  all  the  thousands  in  California  devoted  to  the 
raising  of  grapes  and  the  manufacture  of  raisins,  we  can 
understand  better  the  importance  of  this  industry. 

From  the  pictures  of  these  Western  vineyards  you  will 
notice  how  low  the  vines  are.  They  are  trained  in  this  way 
as  it  is  thought  that  the  fruit  grows  better  near  the  ground. 
It  is  also  picked  much  more  easily  and  quickly  if  it  can  be 
reached  without  the  use  of  ladders.  This  manner  of  growth 
is  not  natural  to  the  vine,  which,  if  left  to  itself,  is  a  great 


FRUIT 


98 


climber.  We  read  of  vines  in  Italy,  which,  a  -  historian 
tells  us,  grew  so  high  in  the  trees  that  the  grape  gatherer 
often  inserted  a  clause  in  the  contract  which  he  made  with 
the  master  of  the  vineyard,  to  the  effect  that,  in  case  of 


FIG.  34.    GRAPES  DRYING,  FRESNO,  CALIFORNIA 

accidents  in  climbing  to  such  heights,  the  master  should 
pay  for  his  funeral  and  tomb.  Vines  are  now  pruned  closely 
every  year,  and  the  harvest  of  grapes  is  gathered  from  the 
new  shoots.  The  fruit  ripens  in  August,  when  it  is  cut 
with  knives  made  for  the  purpose. 


94  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Only  about  one  sixth  of  all  the  great  harvest  from  the 
million  vines  grown  in  California  is  shipped  as  fresh  fruit ; 
all  the  rest  is  made  into  raisins,  wine,  or  grape  juice.  On 
the  Leland  Stanford  ranch  six  acres  are  covered  by  the 
wineries  in  which  two  and  one  half  to  three  million  gallons 
of  wine  are  made  each  year.  In  these  buildings  are  presses 
which  in  one  day  can  squeeze  the  juice  out  of  four  to  eight 
hundred  tons  of  grapes, 

If  the  grapes  are  to  be  made  into  raisins,  they  are  laid 
carefully  in  shallow  trays  about  one  inch  high  and  nearly 
a  yard  square.  They  are  turned  from  time  to  time  by  put- 
ting an  empty  tray  upside  down  over  a  full  one,  and  then 
tipping  them  over.  The  drying  takes  from  ten  days  to  three 
weeks,  depending  on  the  weather.  We  must  remember  that 
no  rain  falls  from  May  to  November,  and  much  of  that 
time  there  is  not  even  dew.  If  it  were  not  for  this,  grapes 
could  not  be  made  into  raisins  there,  for  if  the  air  were 
damp,  or  the  grapes  should  be  wet,  they  would  decay 
instead  of  drying.  The  fruit  which  is  picked  late  in  the 
season  is  sometimes  not  entirely  cured  when  the  rains 
begin  in  November.  If  rain  seems  probable,  there  is  a  great 
demand  for  laborers,  to  re-turn  or  to  cover  the  trays.  Many 
children  are  excused  from  school  at  these-  times  and  work 
in  the  fields,  thus  saving  their  fathers  many  dollars.  Some 
firms  which  cure  raisins  on  a  large  scale  have  dryirtg  houses, 
and  so  escape  the  danger  which  comes  to  the  farmer  whose, 
trays  are  in  the  open  field. 

After  the  grapes  are  dried,  they  are  carried  to  the  pack- 
ing house  and  stored  in  great  cases.  The  little  moisture 
left  in  them  causes  them  to  "sweat,"  which  softens  the 
skin  and  gives  them  a  better  appearance.  If  they  are  t<>  l>e 


FRUIT  95 

sold  as  seeded  raisins,  they  are  put  through  machines  which 
take  out  the  seeds.  The  fruit  is  then  packed,  labeled,  and 
made  ready  for  shipping.  California  produces  one  hundred 
million  pounds  of  raisins  annually,  and  we  import  about 
six  million  pounds  more.  Of  this  great  quantity  we  use  in 
our  own  country  about  eighty  million  pounds,  enough  to 
give  every  person  in  the  United  States  one  pound  each 
year.  But  that  is  very  little  compared  with  the  amount 
used  in  some  European  countries ;  Great  Britain,  for  ex- 
ample, consumes  annually  five  pounds  for  each  inhabitant. 


FIG.  35.    GRAPES  FOR  THE  WINERY,  FRESNO,  CALIFORNIA 

In  the  making  of  wine  the  grapes  are  first  crushed  and 
the  juice  is  allowed  to  ferment,  after  which  it  is  strained 
and  made  ready  for  market.  The  fruit  and  juice  pass 
through  several  complicated  processes,  but  the  crushing  of 
the  fruit,  the  fermentation,  and  the  straining  are  the  most 
important.  The  thirty  million  gallons  of  wine  made  in  this 
country  annually  seems  an  immense  quantity,  but  if  we  com- 
pare it  with  the  product  of  European  countries  it  is  very 
little,  for  this  is  only  one  fiftieth  of  the  amount  produced 
by  France.  When  we  consider  that  the  area  in  California 


96  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

which  might  be  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  grape 
is  equal  to  that  in  France,  we  can  understand  the  future 
possibilities  of  this  industry. 

Though  at  the  present  time  England  gets  the  larger  part 
of  her  wine  supply  from  the  Mediterranean  countries,  in 
the  future  she  may  be  able  to  depend  on  her  own  colonies 
to  furnish  her  with  what  she  may  need.  Cape  Colony  is 
becoming  more  and  more  interested  in  the  production  of 
grapes  and  makes  several  million  gallons  of  wine  each  year. 
England  also  imports  many  fresh  grapes,  as  well  as  peaches 
and  plums,  from  her  South  African  colony. 

I  wonder  if  you  have  ever  noticed  the  grapes  as  they 
come  to  us  from  Spain.  You  have  probably  seen  boxes  of 
them  at  the  fruit  store,  packed  in  what  looks  at  first  sight 
something  like  sawdust,  but  which  is  really  the  powdered 
bark  of  the  cork  tree. 

Perhaps  some  one  of  you  may  be  wondering  if  the  little 
dried  currant  which  we  use  in  cuke  and  puddings  is  also  a 
dried  grape,  or  really  a  currant  as  the  name  implies.  It  is 
really  a  grape  and  not  a  currant  at  all.  It  gets  its  name 
from  Corinth,  a  city  of  Greece,  where  the  fruit  was  origin- 
ally prepared  for  market.  For  this  reason  they  were  first 
called  "Corinths,"  which,  as  the  years  went  by,  became 
changed  by  careless  pronunciation  into  the  more  familiar 
word  "  currants."  These  grapes  grew  originally  on  islands  in 
the  Ionian  Sea  east  of  Greece,  and  they  are  prepared  for 
market  in  much  the  same  way  that  currants  are.  If  you 
put  one  into  water,  you  can  see  it  swell  out  into  something 
of  the  shape  of  a  grape  though  it  is  much  smaller.  Cur- 
rants form  one  of  the  principal  exports  of  Greece  and  great 
quantities  are  shipped  annually  from  that  country. 


FRUIT  97 

OLIVES 

Those  who  do  not  like  olives  and  seldom  if  ever  eat  one 
will  be  surprised  at  the  quantity  of  that  fruit  which  is  raised 
and  eaten  in  the  pickled  form  or  used  for  the  manufacture 
of  oil.  Olive  oil  is  used  largely  in  salads,  in  the  packing  of 
sardines,  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  and  in  medicine. 

The  original  home  of  the  olive  tree  is  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean countries,  and  Italy  and  Spain  lead  the  world  in  the 
production  of  olive  oil. 

At  a  little  distance  the  olive  tree  somewhat  resembles  the 
apple  tree.  It  has,  however,  a  much  longer  life,  for  it  is 
not  unusual  for  one  to  live  and  bear  for  several  centuries. 
The  olive  industry  in  our  country  is  confined  almost  entirely 
to  California,  and  there  we  shall  find  the  largest  orchard  in 
the  world,  situated  about  twenty  miles  south  of  Los  An- 
geles. This  great  orchard  covers  twelve  hundred  acres,  with 
about  a  hundred  olive  trees  to  each  acre,  making,  as  you 
see,  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  trees  on  this  single 
farm.  As  each  tree  yields  two  hundred  pounds  of  fruit  in 
a  season,  you  can  easily  find  out  how  many  tons  of  olives 
are  produced  annually.  About  eight  or  nine  pounds  of  the 
fruit  will  yield  one  quart  of  oil,  and  now  you  can  figure 
out  how  much  olive  oil  may  be  made  each  year  from  this 
one  orchard.  If  you  go  a  step  farther,  and  find  out  how 
much  this  oil  is  worth  at  one  and  one  half  dollars  a  gallon, 
you  will  have  a  fair  estimate  of  the  income  of  the  owner  of 
the  ranch.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  he  has  a 
large  outgo  in  expenses. 

The  olives  to  be  used  for  pickling  are  gathered  when 
quite  green.  This  work  is  done  carefully,  to  avoid  bruising 


98  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  fruit.  The  green  olives  are  very  bitter,  and  in  order  to 
remove  this  flavor  they  are  put  into  large  vats  where  they 
are  soaked  for  some  days  in  lye.  They  are  then  put  into 
fresh  water,  which  is  changed  every  day  for  more  than  a 
week.  This  removes  all  taste  of  the  lye.  The  fruit  is  next 
put  into  casks  of  brine,  and  afterward  packed  in  bottles  or 
kegs  for  shipping. 

If  the  harvest  from  an  olive  orchard  is  to  be  used  for  oil, 
the  fruit  is  not  picked  until  fully  ripe.  It  is  then  loaded  on 
wagons  and  taken  to  the  factory,  where  it  is  fanned  free 
from  sticks,  straws,  or  dirt.  The  fruit  is  next  dried  in  the 
sun  for  a  week  or  two,  after  which  it  is  crushed  between 
two  rollers,  care  being  taken  not  to  break  the  stone,  for 
that  would  spoil  the  flavor  of  the  oil.  The  pulp  is  then  put 
into  presses  similar  to  those  in  a  cider  mill.  The  oil  which 
is  squeezed  out  is  strained  to  free  it  from  impurities,  and 
then  drawn  off  to  remain  in  a  cool,  dark  place  until  bottled. 
The  fruit  pulp  is  pressed  several  times  before  the  oil  is  all 
extracted,  the  best  product  coming  from  the  first  pressing, 
and  a  lower  grade  from  the  second  and  third. 

Very  little  olive  oil  is  sold  which  does  not  contain  other 
oil  mixed  with  it.  That  of  the  cotton  seed  is  used  for  this 
adulteration  more  than  any  other;  sometimes  one  half  or 
more  of  the  so-called  olive  oil  is  really  that  extracted  from 
the  seed  of  the  cotton  plant.  This  is  pure  and  nourishing, 
and  its  flavor  is  not  disagreeable ;  it  is  also  much  cheaper 
than  the  oil  made  from  the  olive,  and  there  would  be  little 
objection  to  the  mixture  if  the  compound  were  properly 
labeled.  People  like  to  know  exactly  what  they  are  buying, 
and  to  decide  for  themselves  whether  or  not  they  want  it. 
The  Pure  Food  and  Drugs  Act  recently  passed  by  Congress 


FRUIT  99 

now  makes  this  possible  by  requiring  that  all  foods  and 
drugs  shall  be  truthfully  labeled. 

California  manufactures  half  a  million  gallons  of  olive 
oil  each  year,  enough  to  fill  sixteen  thousand  barrels.  It 
would  need  a  tube  one  foot  in  diameter  and  nineteen  miles 
long  to  hold  it  all.  Imagine  such  a  tube  extending  from 
your  home  city.  What  place  would  it  reach  ?  This  immense 
quantity  is  really  very  little  when  we  compare  it  with  the 
product  of  Italy  and  Spain,  for  each  of  those  countries 
manufactures  thirty  to  forty  times  as  much.  France  manu- 
factures a  great  deal  of  oil,  but  the  French  people  are  so 
fond  of  it  that  still  more  is  imported  from  the  other  Medi- 
terranean countries.  Perhaps  we  ought  to  learn  to  like  it 
better,  for  it  is  considered  very  nourishing  and  healthful. 

There  are  many  advantages  connected  with  the  olive 
industry,  and  each  year  more  people  in  California  are  en- 
gaging in  it.  As  the  trees  live  to  be  so  old,  they  do  not 
have  to  be  set  out  and  cared  for  every  few  years.  After 
they  are  well  started  they  need  very  little  attention.  The 
olives  ripen  in  November,  at  a  time  when  few  other  crops 
demand  attention;  and  there  is  little  danger  of  any  one 
robbing  the  trees  of  any  of  their  load,  for  unless  perfectly 
ripe  the  fruit  is  so  bitter  that  not  even  the  birds  will  eat  it. 

Perhaps  you  have  seen  small  articles  made  from  olive 
wood.  It  is  much  prized  by  cabinetmakers,  for  it  is  hard 
and  takes  a  fine  polish,  but  of  course  is  very  expensive,  as 
the  trees  are  much  more  valuable  for  their  fruit  than  for 
their  lumber. 

PRUNES 

Before  leaving  California  we  will  visit  San  Jose,  a  city 
of  about  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  many  of  whom  are 


100  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

dependent  on  one  industry,  the  cultivation  of  plums  and 
curing  of  prunes.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that  the  tough,  dry 
prune  as  it  comes  to  us  from  the  store  was  once  the  fat. 
juicy  plum.  Perhaps  it  is  still  harder  to  realize  that  more 
than  one  hundred  million  pounds  are  consumed  in  the 
United  States  annually,  making,  on  an  average,  more  than 


FIG.  36.  PRUNE  GRADER 

a  pound  of  prunes  each  year  for  every  inhabitant.  The 
majority  of  these  are  furnished  by  California  orchards. 
The  Pacific  Northwest,  including  Washington,  Oregon,  and 
Idaho,  is  becoming  an  important  prune-growing  region  and 
ranks  next  to  France  in  the  amount  produced.  Before  this 
industry  was  developed  in  our  own  country,  \vr  obtained 
our  supply  largely  from  France  and  (lie  Danube  valley,  but 


FRUIT  101 

now  we  are  able  not  only  to  furnish  prunes  enough  for 
home  markets  but  also  to  ship  some  abroad. 

The  plums  ripen  in  the  early  fall,  and  if  you  were  to  visit 
an  orchard  at  that  time  you  would  see  the  busy  farmers 
shaking  the  fruit  upon  large  sheets  spread  underneath  the 
heavily  laden  trees.  Loads  of  plums  are  taken  to  the  fac- 
tories, where  they  are  first  washed  and  graded  according  to 


FIG.  37.    PRUNE  DRIER,  CALIFORNIA 

size ;  then,  after  being  dipped  in  boiling  lye  to  soften  the 
skins,  they  are  spread  out  in  the  sun  to  dry.  Thousands  of 
trays  filled  with  the  fruit  may  be  seen  in  a  single  field.  The 
drying  requires  about  a  week,  though  the  time  depends 
somewhat  on  the  weather.  The  dried  plums  are  then  stored 
in  the  factory,  where  they  lie  in  large  bins  for  two  or  three 
weeks,  until  they  begin  to  "  sweat,"  which  softens  and 


102  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

moistens  the  skin.  Then  they  are  packed  in  boxes  for  the 
market  by  women  and  girls,  who  become  very  skillful  in 
this  work. 

There  are  many  different  grades  of  prunes,  from  the 
smallest,  one  hundred  forty  to  the  pound,  to  the  largest 
size,  thirty-five  or  forty  to  the  pound. 

PEACHES 

Though  many  peaches  are  raised  in  California,  the  greater 
part  of  the  crop  comes  from  more  eastern  states.  The  region 
near  the  Great  Lakes  is  favorable  to  their  growth,  and  they 
are  raised  in  large  quantities  there.  Another  area  lies  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  from  Connecticut  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  A  third  lies  in  the  southern 
Atlantic  region  in  the  higher  land  of  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  adjacent  states.  A  mildly  temperate  climate  seems  best 
suited  to  this  fruit,  and  as  it  is  so  perishable  it  is  necessary 
that  the  orchards  be  not  too  far  distant  from  the  markets. 
If  we  would  receive  the  peaches  fresh  and  sound  for  table 
use,  they  need  to  be  packed  quickly  and  closely,  and  sent 
by  fast  freight  to  the  cities  which  serve  as  distributing 
centers.  What  large  cities  in  or  near  each  of  the  peach 
areas  would  you  select  as  such  centers  ? 

The  peaches  are  usually  picked  before  they  are  fully 
ripe,  in  order  that  they  may  reach  the  market  in  good  con- 
dition. They  are  sorted  according  to  size,  and  then  go  to 
the  hands  of  the  packer.  Unless  we  examine  a  basket  of 
peaches  very  carefully,  the  packing  of  the  fruit  would  seem 
to  be  a  simple  process.  But  if  we  should  attempt  it  we 
should  find  it  very  difficult  for  our  inexperienced  hands  to 
arrange  the  fruit  so  that  it  would  not  loosen  and  become 


FRUIT  103 

damaged  by  rubbing.  The  price  paid  for  packing  is  about 
two  cents  a  basket,  and  an  expert  workman  can  pack  one 
hundred  a  day,  but  we  should  find  that  one  half  or  one 
fourth  of  that  number  would  be  a  hard  day's  work  at  first. 
There  are  systematic  ways  of  packing  the  fruit,  the  one 
best  suited  to  the  peaches  and  to  the  basket  being  decided 
on  by  the  packer.  Many  girls  and  women  find  employment 
during  the  peach  season,  preparing  the  fruit  for  market,  and 
often  prove  more  expert  than  the  men. 

In  the  height  of  the  season  refrigerator  cars  are  kept  at 
the  stations  in  the  peach  districts  or  at  the  large  orchards. 
These  are  filled  as  quickly  as  possible  and  started  off.  On 
one  large  peach  farm  in  the  South,  sidetracks  allow  cars 
to  be  loaded  directly  from  the  orchard,  and  two  and  some- 
times three  cars  are  packed,  sealed  up,  and  started  for  mar- 
ket before  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

APPLES 

Of  all  the  fruits  that  have  been  mentioned  in  this  chapter 
none  equals  the  apple  in  importance  - 

The  sweet,  juicy  apple, 
The  luscious,  red  apple, 
The  old  Baldwin  apple, 
That  grew  on  the  farm. 

The  early  home  of  this  fruit  was  in  southeastern  Europe 
and  in  the  adjoining  parts  of  Asia,  and  from  there  it  has 
been  carried  to  every  part  of  the  temperate  zone.  An  apple 
orchard  would  be  a  familiar  sight  in  whatever  country  we 
might  travel,  but  more  fruit  is  raised  in  our  country  than 
in  any  other.  Next  in  rank  comes  Canada,  then  Austria- 
Hungary,  Russia,  and  Germany  in  the  order  named.  Forty 


104  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

or  more  million  barrels  are  produced  each  year  in  the  United 
States,  an  average  of  half  a  barrel  to  every  one  of  its  eighty 
million  inhabitants.  Large  quantities  of  these  are  shipped 
to  other  countries.  What  European  country  do  you  think 
would  import  the  most  from  the  United  States  and  Canada  ? 
The  province  of  Ontario  is  the  garden  of  Canada,  and  one 
third  of  all  the  apples  imported  by  Great  Britain  comes 
from  that  province  and  from  Nova  Scotia.  In  our  own 
country,  New  England,  New  York,  and  the  region  spread- 
ing west  and  south  from  these  states  is  the  great  apple- 
producing  section,  though  apple  orchards  are  found  in  every 
state.  A  great  industry  in  New  York  is  that  of  raising 
young  trees  for  sale,  and  famous  nurseries  are  found  in 
many  parts  of  the  state. 

There  are  fewer  disadvantages  connected  with  the  apple 
industry  than  with  the  raising  of  any  other  fruit.  The  tree 
is  hardy,  requires  little  care,  and  is  not  easily  injured ; 
there  are  many  varieties  of  the  fruit  and  all  keep  well ;  the 
marketing,  therefore,  is  not  attended  with  so  much  expense 
as  the  shipping  of  more  perishable  articles.  Apples  may  be 
put  to  many  uses ;  they  can  be  eaten  raw,  or  cooked  in  a 
variety  of  ways ;  they  can  be  dried,  or  evaporated,  or  made 
into  jelly,  and  so  kept  for  an  indefinite  period  of  time. 

In  large  factories  for  the  drying  of  apples  there  is  little 
waste,  for  the  cores  and  skins  are  used  for  jelly  or  cider. 
There  would  be  less  material  to  be  used  in  this  way  if 
the  apple  had  no  core,  for  in  removing  it  a  large  part  of 
the  fruit  is  wasted.  Since  we  can  have  seedless  oranges, 
why  not  coreless  apples?  For  many  years  men  have  been 
experimenting  to  breed  an  apple  without  the  eore.  These 
experiments  now  seem  likely  to  prove  successful,  for  such 


FRUIT  105 

an  apple  has  really  been  developed,  and  the  trees  have  been 
tested  by  several  years  of  bearing.  Nurseries  now  supply 
these  young  trees  for  planting,  and  this  variety  will  prob- 
ably be  grown  in  great  quantities  in  the  future.  Besides 
the  advantage  that  there  is  less  waste  to  the  fruit,  it  is 
thought  that  insects  will  be  much  less  likely  to  injure  it, 
for  some  species  live  in  the  core  itself. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 
I 

1.  Modern  inventions  and  experiments. 

2.  Luther  Burbank  and  his  work. 

3.  Fruit  areas  of  the  United  States. 

4.  California  as  a  fruit  state. 

5.  Orange  culture. 

6.  Lemon  groves. 

7.  The  grape  and  its  products. 

8.  Olives  and  olive  oil. 

9.  Plums  and  prunes. 

10.  Peach  packing. 

11.  Apple  orchards. 

II 

1.  Write  the  names  of  all  fruits  mentioned  in  the  chapter,  and 
beside  each  one  the  name  of  the  states  and  countries  most  noted  for 
its  production. 

2.  Make  a  collection  of  labels  from  cans  and  preserved  fruits. 
Locate  on  an  outline  map  all  cities  mentioned  on  such  labels.    Locate 
also  on  the  map  all  cities  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 

3.  On  a  map  of  the  United  States,  color  the  grape  belt,  the  peach 
belt,  the  apple  belt,  and  the  orange  belt.    Make  a  list  of  states  pro- 
ducing each  fruit. 

4.  On  a  map  of  Europe,  write  names  of  fruits  in  the  countries 
producing  them. 


106 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


5.  Re-read  Chapter  IV.    Tell  cause  of  arid  and  semiarid  sections 
of  the  United  States.    Tell  of  the  government's  plans  for  irrigation. 
Tell  where  fruit  may  be  raised  when  these  plans  are  carried  out. 

6.  On  an  outline  map  of  the  United  States,  trace  the  railroads  over 
which  fruit  may  be  shipped  to  the  East  from  San  Francisco. 

7.  Ask  your  grocer  for  some  powdered  cork  for  the  school  collec- 
tion. 

8.  Trace  a  voyage  from  Cape  Colony  to  England.    How  far  is  it  ? 
How  long  do  you  think  such  a  journey  would  take  ? 


Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  the  previous 
chapters. 

Connecticut 
Georgia 
Alabama 
New  York 
New  England 

Philadelphia 

Boston 

New  York  City 

Jersey  City 

Baltimore 

Concord,  Mass. 

Redlands 

Santa  Rosa 

San  Francisco 

Los  Angeles 

San  Jose* 

Chicago 

Buffalo 


Great  Desert 

Corinth 

Coastal  Plain 

Japan 

Piedmont  Belt 

Cape  Colony 

Chesapeake  Bay 

Canada 

Chautauqua  County 

Ontario 

Great  Lakes 

Nova  Scotia 

Mediterranean  Sea* 

Ionian  Sea 

California 

Danube  River 

New  Jersey 

Sicily 

Delaware 

Italy 

Maryland 

France 

Virginia 

Spain 

Florida 

England 

Ohio 

Great  Britain 

Louisiana 

Russia 

Massachusetts 

Germany 

Oregon 

Austria-Hungary 

Washington 

Greece 

Idaho 

CHAPTER  IX 
WHEAT 

History  tells  us  of  a  speech  made  by  an  Indian  chief 
to  his  people,  which  is  interesting  because  it  shows  that 
even  the  Indians  appreciated  the  tremendous  advantage 
held  by  the  white  people  because  of  their  knowledge  of 
the  cultivation  of  wheat.  The  speech  runs  as  follows : 

Do  you  not  see  the  whites  living  upon  seeds,  while  we  eat  flesh  ? 
That  each  of  the  wonderful  seeds  they  sow  in  the  earth  returns  to 
them  a  hundredfold  ?  The  flesh  on  which  we  subsist  has  four  legs 
on  which  to  escape,  while  we  have  but  two  with  which  to  pursue  and 
capture  it.  The  grain  remains  where  the  white  men  plant  it  and 
grows.  With  them  winter  is  a  period  of  rest,  while  with  us  it  is  a 
time  of  laborious  hunting.  I  say,  therefore,  unto  every  one  that  will 
hear  me,  that  before  the  cedars  of  your  village  shall  have  died  down 
with  age,  and  the  maple  trees  of  the  valley  have  ceased  to  give  us 
sugar,  the  race  of  the  little  seed  eaters  will  exterminate  the  race  of 
the  flesh  eaters,  provided  their  huntsmen  do  not  become  sowers. 

Nearly  every  one  of  the  states  raises  wheat  to  some  ex- 
tent. Among  those  in  which  it  is  a  leading  industry,  North 
Dakota  holds  high  rank,  and  we  shall  find  a  visit  to  one  of 
its  extensive  wheat  farms  very  interesting.  There  are  large 
areas  in  the  state  where  we  can  see  but  little  else,  for  there 
are  no  high  hills,  no  stone  walls,  no  large  maple  and  elm  or 
other  trees  to  shade  the  dusty  road  which  winds  through 
the  fields  of  grain.  If  we  come  to  Dakota  in  July  or  August, 
we  can  see,  stretching  for  miles  on  either  side,  fields  of 
waving  wheat.  The  farm  which  we  will  visit  raises  little 

107 


108  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

else  on  its  ten  thousand  acres  ;  its  broad  iields  join  those 
of  the  next  farm,  and  then  beyond  that  come  the  acres  of 
yellow  wheat  of  the  one  next  adjoining,  and  so  on,  until 
the  expanse  of  waving  grain  reminds  us  of  the  ocean  in  its 
limitless  area  and  constant  movement. 

The  land  is  plowed  in  the  fall  by  a  machine  which  can 
turn  six  furrows  at  once.  Early  in  the  following  spring  it 
is  harrowed  to  smooth  and  pulverize  the  soil,  and  then  it 
is  ready  for  the  seeding,  which  is  done  by  a  drill.  Such  a 


FIG.  38.    PLOWING  THE  WHEAT  FIELD 

machine  will  seed  from  ten  to  twelve  acres  a  day,  with  an 
average  of  a  bushel  of  seed  to  the  acre.  How  many  bushels 
will  be  required  for  this  farm  of  ten  thousand  acres  ? 

When  the  wheat  is  ripe,  there  is  a  great  demand  for  men 
and  machinery,  since  every  one  wants  the  crop  harvested  at 
about  the  same  time.  After  coming  to  maturity  the  grain 
ripens  (piickly,  in  from  three  to  six  days,  and  a  delay  of 
a  few  days  in  harvesting  might  cause  damage  to  the  extent 
of  thousands  of  dollars. 


WHEAT 


109 


Think  how  long  it  would  take  one  man  with  a  cradle  like 
that  in  the  picture  011  p.  115  to  cut  all  those  aer^s  and  acres  of 
wheat.  With  the  development  of  these  great  Western  farms, 
many  changes  have  taken  place  in  farm  machinery.  One  ma- 
chine, which  is  used  for  harvesting  the  wheat,  is  wonderful 
indeed.  It  cuts  the  grain,  lays  it  even,  and  ties  up  the  sheaf. 
Men  follow  to  stack  the  bundles  in  such  a  way  that  the  rains 
will  run  off  instead  of  soaking  in  and  wetting  the  grain.  On 


FIG. 


REPLOWING  WITH  STEAM  OUTFIT  IN  VALLEY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


some  of  the  great  California  farms  the  combined  harvester 
and  thresher  is  used.  This  single  machine  cuts  the  grain, 
threshes  out  the  seed,  winnows  it,  and  puts  it  into  sacks. 

In  Dakota  the  grain  has  to  remain  in  the  field  for  some 
time  before  it  is  threshed.  In  a  good  season  this  .drying 
process  takes  about  three  weeks.  The  seed  is  then  threshed 
out  and  cleaned  by  steam  threshers.  Twelve  hundred  to 
fifteen  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  can  be  prepared  in  a  day 
by  one  of  them. 


110  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

The  harvest  period  is  the  time  to  appreciate  the  magni- 
tude and  importance  of  the  wheat  industry.  It  is  the  great 
"  rush  season  "  of  the  West.  Men  of  all  classes  —  tramps, 
clerks,  business  men,  and  college  students  —  flock  there 
by  thousands.  Many  railroads  running  into  the  wheat  belt 
carry  laborers  for  half  fare,  and  sometimes,  when  the  de- 
mand is  very  great,  they  are  carried  free,  so  important  is 
it  that  the  grain  which  supplies  the  bread  of  the  nation  shall 
be  safely  garnered.  The  failure  of  one  wheat  crop  means 


FIG.  40.    HARVESTING  ON  A   BIG  FARM 
(Courtesy  of  the  Holt  Manufacturing  Company,  Stockton,  California) 

debts  and  mortgages  for  the  farmer,  while  a  successful  year 
brings  happiness  and  plenty. 

The  housewives  in  the  wheat  belt  are  kept  busy  provid- 
ing for  this  hungry  crowd.  The  harvesting  machinery  is  in 
full  swing.  Soon  the  railroads  are  crowded  with  freight. 
Granaries  are  filled,  awaiting  the  time  when  wheat  shall 
be  sent  to  the  elevators  to  be  stored  until  it  can  be  made 
into  flour.  The  mills  in  the  large  flour-manufacturing 
cities  are  running  at  full  speed,  for  millions  and  millions 


WHEAT  111 

of  bushels  of  wheat  are  waiting  for  room  in  the  snugly 
filled  elevators. 

Some  of  these  grain  elevators  are  immense  steel  structures 
holding  three  or  four  million  bushels.  The  grain  is  run  into 
the  lower  part  of  the  building  in  freight  cars.  It  is  taken 
from  them  by  huge  shovels  which  need  only  a  few  minutes 
to  unload  a  whole  car.  It  is  then  lifted  to  the  top  of  the 
elevator  by  means  of  basketlike  arrangements  attached  to 


FIG.  41.    WHEAT  STACKS 

an  endless  chain.  As  the  chain  runs  over  the  wheel  in  the 
very  highest  part  of  the  building,  the  baskets  are  turned 
upside  down,  and  the  grain  falls  into  a  long  chute  which 
carries  it  to  the  desired  bin.  There  are  openings  in  the 
bottoms  of  these  huge  bins,  from  which  the  grain  may  be 
taken  when  needed.  The  machinery  of  some  of  the  great 
elevators  in  Buffalo  is  operated  by  electricity  from  Niagara 
Falls.  Can  you  tell  why  such  large  elevators  are  located  in 
that  city  ? 


112 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


From  the  elevator  the  grain  is  taken  to  the  flour  mills, 
where  it  is  first  examined  by  inspectors.  The  men  look 
for  dust,  oats,  and  other  foreign  matter,  test  the  quality 
by  feeling,  weigh  a  portion  to  see  that  it  is  up  to  grade, 
and,  by  means  of  a  long  tube  thrust  deep  down  into  the 
wheat  in  the  car,  find  whether  or  not  the  lower  layers  are 
of  as  good  a  quality  as  those  which  are  near  the  surface. 


EifKORTHERH  ELEVATOR. 


Copy  right,  Detroit  Photographic  Co. 

FIG.  42.    GRAIN  ELEVATOR,  DULUTH,  MINNESOTA 

In  a  large  flour  mill  the  grain  is  taken  from  the  train  by 
great  steam  shovels,  which  can  empty  a  car  of  one  thousand 
bushels  in  a  few  minutes.  The  wheat  is  then  cleaned  and 
crushed  slightly  between  rollers,  after  which  it  is  carried 
to  lai-jire  sieves,  where  the  undesirable  parts  are  separated 
fnmi  those  containing  the  food  elements.  The  rolling  and 
sifting  takes  place  many  times,  as  the  grain  is  crushed  liner 


WHEAT  113 

and  liner.  There  is  a  final  sifting  in  which  any  dust  or  dirt 
that  may  still  linger  in  the  flour  is  caught  in  a  dust  collec- 
tor made  of  a  series  of  flannel  tubes,  and  the  flour  is  at  last 
ready  for  packing  and  shipping.  Before  this  stage  is  reached, 
it  has  been  raised  to  the  top  of  the  building  ten  or  twelve 
times,  and  as  many  times  has  poured  down  through  chutes 
or  tubes  to  just  the  right  place  to  continue  its  transforma- 
tion into  flour.  Finally,  as  a  result  of  all  these  processes, 
we  have  the  flour  made  of  the  most  nourishing  parts  of 
the  seed. 

People  who  have  studied  the  grains  of  wheat  carefully 
through  powerful  microscopes  have  discovered  that  the 
white  center  is  nearly  all  starch,  while  outside  of  this  is  a 
yellowish  coating  of  gluten.  The  starch  and  the  gluten  are 
the  nourishing  elements,  and  the  parts  containing  these 
are  used  for  the  best  flour.  The  outer  coverings  or  husks 
are  made  into  bran  or  shorts. 

How  different  is  the  wheat  harvesting  of  the  present, 
with  the  great  steam  threshers  and  harvesters,  from  that  of 
ancient  days,  when  the  grain  was  cut  with  reaping  hooks ! 
What  a  contrast  between  our  immense  mills  filled  with 
their  noisy  machinery,  and  the  methods  used  in  the  olden 
times  when  women  ground  the  kernels  between  two  stones  ! 
What  would  the  reaper  and  the  grinder  of  those  early  days 
think  if  they  could  stand  for  a  few  moments  in  a  Dakota 
harvest  field,  or  follow  the  grain  into  a  Minneapolis  flour 
mill? 

There  are  six  hundred  flour  mills  in  Minnesota,  beside 
many  others  in  adjacent  states.  Duluth,  St.  Louis,  and 
other  cities  are  noted  for  this  industry,  but  Minneapolis  is 
the  largest  flour-producing  center  of  the  world.  The  city 


114 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


is  situated  upon  the  Mississippi  River,  just  where  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony  furnish  power  for  this  and  other  manufac- 
turing. There  are  many  railroads  radiating  in  every  direc- 
tion, over  which  the  wheat  comes  pouring  into  the  city,  and 
by  which  the  flour  is  distributed  to  a  hungry  world.  In 
Minneapolis  is  the  largest  flour  mill  in  the  world,  in  which 
fifteen  thousand  barrels  can  be  manufactured  in  one  day. 


FIG.  43.   STEAM  HARVESTING  OUTFIT 

The  same  company  which  owns  this  also  owns  and  runs 
four  other  large  flour  mills,  three  of  which  are  in  Min- 
neapolis. The  total  daily  capacity  of  all  these  mills  is  more 
than  thirty  thousand  barrels.  Think  of  all  the  other  com- 
panies engaged  in  the  same  business  in  Minneapolis  and 
other  cities,  and  you  will  be  astonished  at  the  quantity  of 
flour  produced  every  day.  Think  of  the  immense  number 
of  cars  and  boats  which  are  needed  to  distribute  through 


WHEAT 


115 


our  own  country  and  Europe  all  the  flour  which  is  manu- 
factured. Think,  too,  of  the  great  area  of  land  which  must 
be  used  for  the  cultivation  of  this  one  product. 

All  the  states  engaged  in  this  industry  do  not  raise  the 
same  variety.    Winter  and  spring  wheat  are  the  two  great 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  44.    HARVESTING  WHEAT  WITH  A  CRADLE 

classes  into  which  this  grain  is  divided.  The  winter  variety 
is  planted  in  the  fall  and  harvested  in  the  early  summer. 
Spring  wheat  is  planted  in  the  spring  and  harvested  in  the 
autumn.  Winter  wheat  requires  a  mild  climate  and  is 
consequently  raised  in  the  middle  and  southern  sections  of 


116 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


the  United  States.  When  the  spring  wheat  was  found 
to  be  valuable,  the  industry  spread  farther  north  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  into  Canada.  To-day 
twenty-live  states  and  territories  raise  winter  wheat,  nine- 
teen produce  spring  wheat,  while  some  states  raise  both. 


Copyright;  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  45.    NATIVE  WOMEN  GRINDING  WHEAT  IN  PALESTINE 

The  leading  crop  producers  of  the  winter  variety  are  Kansas, 
California,  Texas,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Maryland,  and  Tennes- 
see. Of  the  spring  wheat  list,  Minnesota,  North  and  South 
Dakota,  Nebraska,  Washington,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa  mv 
the  most  important. 


WHEAT  117 

It  has  been  found  that  the  spring  wheat  requires  for  its 
ripening,  not  so  great  intensity  of  heat  for  a  short  period, 
but  length  of  daylight  and  a  milder  warmth.  As  one  goes 
north  in  summer  the  days  grow  longer ;  consequently  the 
production  of  wheat  has  been  carried  farther  and  farther 
northward.  Southern  Canada  is  now  one  of  the  greatest 
wheat-producing  regions  of  the  world.  Thousands  of  farmers 
from  the  United  States  have  sold  their  farms  at  good  prices 
and  gone  to  Canada,  where  they  have  taken  up  undeveloped 
land  which  can  be  bought  at  a  low  figure. 

In  Manitoba  and  provinces  farther  westward,  conditions 
favor  the  raising  of  a  very  fine  quality  of  the  grain.  And 
there  in  western  Canada  lies  one  of  the  greatest  wheat- 
producing  regions  of  the  future.  Compared  with  the  United 
States,  few  railroads  are  found  in  this  part  of  Canada.  In 
fact  the  wheat  is  now  carried  to  the  East  almost  wholly  by 
one  road,  the  Canadian  Pacific  and  its  branches.  The  new 
trans-Canadian  railroad  is  to  extend  all  the  way  north  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  will  be  of  immense  importance  in 
the  development  of  western  Canada.  Starting  from  Mont- 
real and  Quebec,  it  will  run  directly  west  through  the 
wheat  and  timber  land  south  of  James  Bay,  cross  the  rich 
grain  lands  of  the  Peace  River  valley  farther  west,  and  ter- 
minate at  Port  Simpson  in  British  Columbia,  one  of  the 
very  best  harbors  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  During  its  whole 
course  it  lies  within  the  wheat  area  and  entirely  in  Canadian 
territory. 

You  have  perhaps  heard  of  the  peasants  of  Russia,  of 
their  hard  life  on  the  great  plains  of  that  country,  and  of 
the  terrible  famines  when  their  crop  fails.  Their  hardships 
are  not  caused  by  lack  of  fertility  in  the  land,  for  the  "  black 


118 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


WHEAT  119 

earth  region  "  of  southern  Russia  comprises  a  vast  area, 
level,  fertile,  and,  under  better  management,  capable  of 
producing  enormous  quantities  of  wheat.  But  the  peasants 
know  nothing  of  modern  machinery.  Everything  is  done  by 
hand  in  the  most  primitive  way.  The  ground  is  never  fer- 
tilized, and  the  crops  are  much  smaller  than  might  be  pro- 
duced if  modern  methods  of  agriculture  prevailed.  In  spite 
of  all  this,  Russia  raises  great  quantities  of  wheat,  ranking 
next  to  the  United  States.  She  sends  a  great  deal  to  other 
European  countries,  much  of  which  should  be  kept  for  home 
use,  for  the  peasants  do  not  have  enough  to  nourish  them- 
selves properly.  Odessa,  on  the  Black  Sea,  is  one  of  the 
largest  wheat  ports  in  the  world. 

We  shall  have  to  go  to  a  very  different  part  of  the  world 
to  visit  the  third  great  wheat-exporting  country  —  to  far- 
away Argentina  in  South  America.  We  shall  find  there 
Spanish,  Indians,  and  half-breeds,  whose  customs  and  lan- 
guage will  no  doubt  seem  very  strange  to  us.  We  shall 
find  also  the  temperate  climate,  level  land,  and  rich  soil  on 
which  wheat  flourishes  so  well. 

The  plains  in  Argentina  are  called  the  "  pampas."  Per- 
haps you  have  seen  for  sale  in  some  city  store  the  tall, 
feathery,  pampas  grass.  There  are  many  millions  of  acres 
in  the  pampas,  over  some  of  which  roam  vast  herds  of 
wild  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep.  And  there  are  also  vast 
regions  covered  with  waving  wheat.  As  this  country  is 
not  developed,  land  is  cheap,  and  people  have  made  for- 
tunes by  buying  large  areas  for  little  money  and  devel- 
oping them  into  successful  ranches  or  wheat  farms.  In 
some  cases  the  farming  is  not  so  carefully  or  so  scientifi- 
cally done  as  in  the  United  States,  and  consequently  the 


120  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

returns  per  acre  are  not  so  large.  Many  of  the  Argentine 
farmers  are  Indians  or  half -breeds,  who  are  not  very  ambi- 
tious. They  do  not  plow  deeply  or  use  good  seed,  and 
consequently  raise  light  crops.  They  sometimes  prefer  to 
store  their  wheat  on  the  ground  in  sacks,  and  run  the  risk 
of  its  being  spoilt  by  the  weather,  rather  than  pay  the  ele- 
vator charges. 

Argentina  is  perhaps  better  supplied  with  railroads  than 
any  other  South  American  country.  The  Parana  and  Uru- 
guay rivers  penetrate  the  wheat  region  and  by  their  junc- 
tion form  the  La  Plata,  on  which  is  situated  Buenos  Aires, 
which  is  one  of  the  largest  ports  on  the  continent.  The 
United  States  is  interested  in  the  development  of  the 
Argentine  wheat  fields,  for,  as  the  production  increases, 
more  and  more  of  our  agricultural  machinery  and  tools 
are  needed  there.  Like  the  United  States,  Argentina 
ships  large  quantities  of  her  wheat  to  Great  Britain  and 
the  continent  of  Europe.  Because  of  this  fact,  some  of 
our  statesmen  already  see  in  Argentina  a  powerful  future 
rival  in  European  trade. 

Wheat  is  also  raised  in  India  and  in  Australia,  and  from 
these  places  some  is  exported  to  England.  France,  Austria- 
Hungary,  and  Germany  also  raise  large  quantities,  but  not 
one  of  them  produces  enough  to  supply  the  home  demand. 
Therefore  we  must  think  of  the  United  States,  Canada, 
Russia,  and  Argentina  as  the  great  exporting  countries.  In 
the  best  of  years  Europe  never  produces  enough,  even  in- 
cluding the  crops  from  the  vast  fields  of  Russia,  to  supply 
her  own  needs.  She  is  therefore  absolutely  dependent  on 
the  United  States,  Canada,  Argentina,  India,  and  Australia. 
If  an  open  conflict  between  the  United  States  and  Europe 


WHEAT  121 

should  ever  come,  the  American  might  go  far  toward  win- 
ning his  victory  by  a  mere  stoppage  of  the  tide  of  food. 
It  is  then  no  wonder  that  the  question  of  the  food  supply 
is  constantly  before  the  parliaments  of  Europe,  and  to 
a  degree  that  the  American  who  produces  enough  cannot 
understand. 

There  are  about  fifteen  hundred  million  people  living 
to-day  in  this  great  world  of  ours.  More  than  one  third  of 
them,  or  five  hundred  fifty  million,  use  wheat  for  food,  and 
this  number  is  constantly  and  rapidly  increasing.  Each 
man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  great  wheat-consuming 
population  eats  on  the  average  a  barrel  of  flour  annually. 
Therefore  each  year  there  must  be  raised  nearly  twenty -five 
hundred  million  bushels  of  wheat  to  supply  the  demand. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  what  an  immense  quantity  this  is. 
It  would  make  a  pile  as  high  as  a  mountain,  —  literally,  a 
whole  mountain  of  wheat;  for,  if  heaped  in  the  shape  of 
a  cone,  the  pile  would  extend  two  miles  into  the  air,  and 
be  so  large  at  the  base  that,  if  you  started  to  walk  around 
it,  you  would  have  to  go  nearly  sixteen  miles  before  you 
returned  to  your  starting  point.  Suppose,  instead  of  heap- 
ing the  wheat  into  one  huge  mound,  we  pile  it  up  into  four 
smaller  mountains  of  equal  base  with  the  large  one,  but 
only  half  a  mile  in  height.  One  of  these  piles  would  be 
made  entirely  of  wheat  from  the  United  States,  for  we 
raise  one  quarter  of  the  world's  production.  Let  us  divide 
the  pile  made  of  our  crop  into  four  smaller  ones,  each  one 
eighth  of  a  mile  high  but  nearly  sixteen  miles  around  the 
base.  It  is  indeed  very  hard  to  believe  that  such  a  heap 
could  be  made  entirely  from  the  wheat  which  is  raised  in 
only  two  of  our  states,  Kansas  and  Minnesota. 


122  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

If  the  wheat  crop  is  a  good  one,  there  is  plenty  and  pros- 
perity the  world  over.  If  the  crop  fails,  there  is  suffering 
and  starvation.  Not  only  in  Russia,  but  in  India  also,  great 
famines,  in  which  thousands  die,  often  occur  because  of  the 
failure  of  the  wheat  harvest. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  wheat  is  being  harvested 
somewhere  in  the  world  all  the  year  round.  South  of  the 
equator  the  seasons  are  the  opposite  of  ours  ;  therefore  those 
countries  harvest  their  crops  in  our  winter  months,  Novem- 
ber, December,  and  January,  and  later  as  we  go  farther 
south.  In  April  and  May  the  harvesting  season  comes  to 
Mexico,  and  shortly  afterwards  to  Texas  and  other  southern 
states.  Through  the  succeeding  months  the  reaping  and 
harvesting  moves  northward,  until  in  September  and  Octo- 
ber the  harvests  are  gathered  in  Canada,  where  the  north- 
ernmost wheat  grows. 

An  important  and  interesting  work  going  on  in  our 
country  is  the  breeding  of  new  wheats.  Any  improvement 
which  will  increase  the  yield  by  only  a  bushel  per  acre  will 
add  millions  of  dollars  to  the  value  of  the  crop.  The  mak- 
ing of  a  new  variety  of  grain  is  slow,  painstaking  work,  for 
the  pollen  from  the  flower  of  one  plant  must  be  transferred 
by  hand  to  the  flower  of  another  plant,  and  from  the  first 
harvest  only  a  few  kernels  will  result.  But  the  Minnesota 
State  Experiment  Station  has  already  done  important  work 
along  these  lines  and  has  succeeded  in  creating  a  hardy 
grain  which  will  withstand  disease  and  extremes  of  climate. 
It  is  also  rich  in  food  qualities  and  will  produce  more  wheat 
to  the  acre  than  any  one  of  the  old  varieties*  The  govern- 
ments of  other  states  and  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at 
Washington  are  also  working  in  the  same  direction. 


WHEAT  123 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 


1.  A  trip  to  Dakota. 

2.  A  typical  wheat  field. 

3.  Harvesting  wheat. 

4.  Milling  of  wheat. 

5.  Kinds  of  wheat. 

6.  Wheat  area  of  the  United  States. 

7.  Wheat  regions  of  the  world. 

8.  Importance  of  the  wheat  industry. 


II 

1.  On  a  map  of  the  world,  stick  kernels  of  wheat  on  the  countries 
noted  for  its  production.    Write  on  each  country  the  name  of  the 
month  in  which  its  wheat  is  harvested. 

2.  Trace  route  from  Odessa  to  London. 

3.  Trace  route  from  Buenos  Aires  to  London. 

4.  Trace  route  from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires. 

5.  Trace  route  from  Asia  Minor  to  some  port  in  Germany. 

6.  Trace  route  from  some  port  in  Germany  to  Brazil. 

7.  What  will  form  the  cargo  in  each  of  these  journeys  ? 

8.  On  an  outline  map,  trace  a  journey  from  the  home  town  to 
Dakota.     Write  the  names  of  the  railroads  used,  bodies  of  water 
sailed  on,  states  passed  through,  and  important  cities  on  the  way. 

9.  On  an  outline  map  of  the  United  States,  color  the  wheat  area 
and  locate  all  cities  mentioned  in  the  chapter. 

10.  From  the  station  agent  in  your  town,  from  railway  guides, 
and  from  maps  in  your  books  find  the  names  of  railroads  entering 
Minneapolis. 

11.  Make  a  collection  of  the   labels  on  flour   bags   and  barrels. 
Learn  the  names  of  the  different  kinds  of  flour  and  the  cities  where 
they  are  manufactured. 

12.  Debate  on  the  question  :  Which  country  of  the  world  possesses 
the  greatest  advantages  for  the  production  of  wheat  ? 

13.  Sketch  a  map  of  Canada  showing  the  two  great  railroads. 


124 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


III 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  the  previous 
chapters. 


Dakota 

Kansas 

California 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Missouri 

Pennsylvania 

Oklahoma. 

Oregon 

Michigan 

Maryland 

Tennessee 

Minnesota 

Nebraska 

Washington 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Manitoba 

British  Columbia 


Turkey 

Asia  Minor 

Russia 

Brazil 

Argentina 

South  Africa 

India 

France 

Austria-Hungary 

Germany 

The  pampas 

Dulnth 

Buffalo 

Minneapolis 

St.  Paul 

Chicago 

St.  Louis 

Montreal 

Quebec 

Port  Simpson 


Odessa 
London 
Liverpool 
Hamburg 
Buenos  Aires 
James  Bay 
Peace  River 
Red  River 
Black  Sea 
Strait  of  Bosphorus 
Sea  of  Marmora 
Strait  of  Dardanelles 
Mediterranean  Sea 
Strait  of  Gibraltar 
La  Plata  River 
Parana  River 
Uruguay  River 
Atlantic  Ocean 
English  Channel 
Dover  Strait 


CHAPTER  X 
CORN 

If  we  were  to  ask  different  people  to  name  the  most  val- 
uable product  of  our  country,  no  doubt  the  answers  would 
vary  widely.  Some,  thinking  of  the  bread  of  the  nation, 
would  answer  wheat ;  others,  with  the  clothing  material  in 
mind,  would  say  cotton ;  while  still  others,  thinking  of  our 
mineral  wealth,  would  mention  gold,  silver,  coal,  or  iron. 
But  all  would  be  wrong,  for  our  corn  crop  exceeds  in  value 
any  one  of  these,  or,  in  fact,  several  of  them  put  together. 
It  is  worth  more  than  both  our  wheat  and  cotton  crops,  and 
seven  or  eight  times  as  much  as  our  gold  and  silver.  If  to 
the  value  of  the  annual  gold  and  silver  output  we  add  that 
of  coal  and  iron,  even  then  the  total  value  is  not  so  great 
as  that  of  the  corn.  This  seems  hard  to  believe,  but  Uncle 
Sam's  figures  are  not  to  be  contradicted.  The  value  of  the 
annual  corn  crop  is  about  eight  hundred  fifty  million  dollars. 
Eighty  million  people  live  in  the  United  States ;  so,  if  this 
money  could  be  divided  equally,  each  one  would  receive 
each  year  about  ten  and  one  half  dollars. 

Perhaps  we  can  better  appreciate  the  amount  of  corn 
raised  in  this  country  if  we  think  of  it  in  another  way.  The 
annual  product  of  the  United  States  is  twenty -five  hundred 
million  bushels.  An  immense  quantity,  is  it  not  ?  It  cer- 
tainly will  seem  so  when  we  try  to  put  all  of  it  into  bushel 
boxes.  Let  us  set  them  side  by  side  and  begin  to  fill  them 
from  our  pile  of  corn.  We  fill  one  row  of  boxes  long  enough 

125 


126  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

to  extend  entirely  around  the  world,  but  the  great  mountain 
of  corn  still  seems  as  large  as  ever.  Ten  rows  of  boxes  com- 
pletely encircling  the  world  are  filled  with  the  golden  grain, 
but  two  thirds  of  our  pile  is  yet  untouched.  To  use  it  all 
in  this  way,  we  should  need  more  than  thirty  rows  of  boxes 
side  by  side  encircling  the  earth.  No  wonder  Uncle  Sam  is 
proud  of  his  corn  crop,  for  although  this  cereal  is  raised  in 
many  other  countries,  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  world's 
crop  is  grown  in  the  United  States.  And,  what  is  equally 
wonderful,  we  use  nearly  all  of  it  right  here  in  our  own 
country.  Let  us  see  where  all  this  immense  crop  comes  from. 

If  we  wish  to  visit  the  great  corn  belt,  we  must  leave  the 
hills  of  New  England,  the  forest-covered  lands  of  the  North, 
and  the  fragrant  fields  of  the  South,  though  to  be  sure  corn 
is  raised  to  some  extent  in  all  these  places.  We  will  go, 
however,  to  the  fertile  prairies  and  level  plains  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  where  millions  of  acres  of  rich  soil  are 
covered  with  the  long,  waving  leaves  and  yellow  tassels  of 
the  corn  forests.  We  niay  well  call  them  forests,  for  they  are 
much  taller  than  you  are,  and  in  the  great  fields  you  might 
walk  for  hours  without  getting  from  under  the  tall,  rustling 
blades  which  seem  to  whisper  together  over  your  heads. 

Such  great  fields  can  be  seen  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Nebraska, 
Missouri,  Kansas,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Texas.  In  other 
states  also  corn  is  raised,  but  the  eight  mentioned  produce 
the  greater  part  of  the  twenty-five  hundred  million  bushels 
which  we  raise  every  year.  Illinois  alone  produces  nearly 
one  sixth  of  it  all,  and  Iowa  nearly  as  much. 

Other  industries  of  which  we  have  read  have  taken  us 
into  the  same  section  of  our  country,  the  wonderful  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  Here  we  find  the  cotton  plantations  and 


CORN  127 

the  great  wheat  and  stock  farms.  Many  other  products  of 
lesser  importance  are  raised,  such  as  fruit,  tobacco,  rye,  oats, 
and  barley.  The  level  country,  the  rich  soil,  the  favorable 
climate,  the  inland  waterways,  the  great  railroads,  all  com- 
bine to  make  this  valley  the  most  productive  of  its  size  in 
the  world. 

Suppose  we  select  a  corn  farm  in  Illinois  and  see  how 
the  great  crops  are  raised.    We  might  visit  many  which 


FIG.  47.    AN  ILLINOIS  CORNFIELD 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 

cover  several  thousand  acres,  but  you  will  be  more  inter- 
ested in  one  which  is  carried  on  by  a  boy  of  only  fourteen 
years  of  age. 

John's  father  owns  a  farm  of  more  than  twenty  thousand 
acres,  a  large  part  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  raising  of 
corn.  John  has  helped  his  father  so  much  that  he  under- 
stands as  well  or  better  than  many  a  man  how  to  do  the 
necessary  work.  He  was  very  much  pleased  when  his 
father  gave  him  ten  acres  of  good  land  and  the  corn  with 
which  to  plant  it.  The  first  year  his  crop  averaged  thirty 


128  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

bushels  to  the  acre,  nearly  the  same  as  his  father's.  He 
sold  his  three  hundred  bushels  for  forty  cents  a  bushel, 
which  was  a  fairly  good  price,  and  realized  from  the  sale 
one  hundred  twenty  dollars. 

One  day  at  school,  John's  teacher  took  the  class  to  hear 
a  lecture  by  a  man  from  the  State  Agricultural  College,  on 
the  importance  of  using  good  seed  corn.  He  told  them 
how  easily  the  yield  of  the  land  might  be  doubled  if  farm- 
ers would  only  select  with  more  care  the  seed  which  they 
planted. 

The  boys,  most  of  whom  were  sons  of  corn  planters, 
were  much  interested  in  the  lecturer's  description  of  experi- 
ments carried  on  at  the  college  and  on  certain  farms  in  the 
state.  In  these  places,  great  care  was  exercised  in  selecting 
the  ears  of  corn  that  were  to  be  used  for  seed.  The  fine, 
large  ears  were  carefully  saved,  and  the  next  year  a  row 
was  planted  with  the  very  best  kernels  from  these  ears.  It 
was  found  that  the  crop  produced  was  much  better  than 
that  grown  from  seed  not  carefully  selected.  The  corn  from 
the  experimental  row  was  gathered  the  second  year,  and  the 
very  best  selected  for  planting  the  next  spring,  with  better 
results  than  before.  This  had  been  continued  for  several 
years  until  the  crop  had  been  increased  from  twenty-five 
bushels  to  fifty,  seventy-five,  and,  in  some  cases,  even  to 
one  hundred  bushels  per  acre. 

The  lecturer  went  oh  to  tell  of  prizes  that  were  offered 
in  the  state  for  the  best  crop  produced  on  a  boy's  farm. 
There  was  great  excitement  in  the  school,  for  most  of  the 
boys,  like  John,  had  some  of  their  fathers'  land  to  till. 

The  next  year  many  of  the  boys  bought  some  of  this  im- 
proved seed  corn  for  at  least  a  part  of  the  land  they  were 


CORN  129 

cultivating,  and  found  that  the  lecturer  had  spoken  truly 
when  he  said  it  would  increase  the  yield.  The  following  year 
John  planted  his  ten  acres  with  seed  which  he  had  carefully 
selected  from  the  very  best  of  the  last  year's  crop.  He  tended 
it  carefully  and  cultivated  it  often,  and  in  September,  when 
the  judges  awarded  the  prizes,  John  received  the  one  for  that 
district.  His  crop  averaged  seventy-five  bushels  per  acre, 
more  than  double  the  yield  of  many  of  the  farms  around. 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  boys  and  the  excellent  crops  ob- 
tained proved  a  stimulus  to  the  older  farmers,  and  this  is 


FIG.  48.  CORN  FROM  GOOD  AND  FROM  POOR  SEED 

one  of  the  many  ways  in  which  our  yield  of  corn  has  been 
greatly  increased.  The  state  agricultural  colleges,  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  corn  breed- 
ers' associations  which  have  been  formed  in  many  states, 
are  all  helping  in  this  great  work.  You  can  see  how  impor- 
tant it  is  when  I  tell  you  that  there  are  one  hundred  million 
acres  in  the  United  States  devoted  to  corn  culture.  If  the 
yield  is  increased  only  five  bushels  per  acre,  that  would 
mean  five  hundred  million  more  bushels  in  the  whole 
country.  This,  at  forty  cents  a  bushel,  would  amount  to 
two  hundred  million  dollars.  All  this  can  be  brought  about 


130  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

without  increasing  the  cost  of  raising  corn  or  the  amount 
of  land  devoted  to  it.  No  wonder  the  Western  farmers  are 
beginning  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  using  good  seed, 
when  an  increase  of  only  two  bushels  per  acre  on  a  farm 
of  two  thousand  acres  means  a  thousand  or  two  more 
dollars  in  the  farmer's  pocket. 

Wonderful  things  have  been  accomplished  in  many  of 
the  agricultural  experiment  stations  in  the  United  States. 
Corn  with  wide  blades  and  corn  with  narrow  blades,  corn 
of  great  height  or  corn  of  small  stature,  has  been  produced 
simply  by  careful  selection  of  seed.  The  ears  have  been 
made  to  grow  higher  on  the  plant  or  nearer  the  ground. 
The  kernels  have  been  made  to  increase  their  food  values 
or  their  starchy  elements  according  as  the  crop  is  to  be  vised 
for  cattle  food  or  cornstarch.  The  quantity  of  oil  or  sirup 
which  the  corn  contains  has  been  made  to  vary.  All  this 
work  has  required  much  study  and  experiment,  extending 
over  many  years. 

These  Western  farmers  cannot  gather  their  crops  by  hand. 
Wonderful  machines  have  been  invented  to  do  this  work 
for  them.  One  such  machine  cuts  the  stalks  and  binds 
them  into  bundles.  Another  breaks  the  ears  off  and,  what 
seems  more  wonderful,  tears  the  husks  from  them  at  the 
rate  of  thirty  bushels  per  hour.  Attached  to  the  machine  is 
a  fanlike  arrangement  which  blows  the  stalks  through  a 
tube  to  the  place  in  the  barn  where  they  are  to  be  stored. 
A  steam  sheller  takes  the  kernels  from  the  cob  at  the  rate  of 
a  bushel  a  minute.  It  would  take  a  man  between  one  and 
two  hours  to  shellthe  same  amount  by  hand.  If  the  whole 
population  of  the  United  States  were  set  to  work,  it  would 
take  more  than  three  months  for  the  crop  to  be  all  si  id  led. 


CORN 


131 


After  shelling,  the  corn  is  either  sent  directly  to  the  mill, 
if  it  is  to  be  ground  into  .meal,  or  stored  in.  elevators  to 
await  shipment.  Hundreds  and  hundreds  of  freight  trains 
are  busy  carrying  it  to  the  great  centers,  and  although  most 
of  the  important  railroads  which  enter  or  cross  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  have  thousands  of  cars  in  which  the  grain 
may  be  carried,  each  year  there  is  a  demand  for  more. 


FIG.  49.    CUTTING  CORN  BY  MACHINERY 

We  have  talked  so  long  about  the  quantity  of  corn  which 
we  raise,  and  the  care  of  it,  that  I  am  sure  you  are  wonder- 
ing what  can  be  done  with  it  all,  for  very  little  of  it  is 
shipped  to  other  countries.  The  first  and  greatest  use  is  as 
a  food  for  animals.  The  hog  farms  of  the  country,  on  which 
sixty  million  hogs  are  raised,  are  situated  principally  in  or 
near  the  corn  belt,  where  the  animals  may  be  fattened  for 
market  upon  the  grain  raised  near  at  hand.  The  cattle 


132  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

raised  in  the  West  are  fed  on  corn  for  some  months  previ- 
ous to  slaughtering,  so  you  see  that  much  of  our  corn  and 
meal  is  shipped  abroad  in  the  form  of  beef  and  pork.  This 
is  one  of  the  reasons  why  so  many  of  the  great  packing 
houses  of  the  country  are  located  in  or  near  the  corn  belt. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  50.    HOGS  IN  KANSAS 

Here  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  fact  that  no  industry 
can  exist  independently,  but  that  each  one  depends  on 
others.  If  our  corn  lands  did  not  exist,  it  would  not  be 
profitable  for  many  of  the  hog  and  cattle  farms  to  be  car- 
ried on  where  they  are  at  present.  If  these  were  removed, 
some  of  the  great  packing  houses  would  have  to  go  out  of 
business.  Remove  the  corn  lands,  some  of  the  dependent 


CORN  133 

live  stock,  and  the  slaughtering  firms,  and  many  railroads 
wonld  find  their  freight  decreased  so  much  that  it  would 
not  pay  to  run  to  some  towns  which  they  now  enter. 

People  as  well  as  animals  like  food  made  from  corn  and 
corn  meal,  for  it  is  nourishing  and  agreeable  to  the  taste. 
In  the  South,  "  hoe  cake  "  and  hominy  are  common  dishes ; 
and  in  the  North,  corn  cake,  or  "  Johnny  cake,"  mush,  and 
hulled  corn  are  well-known  articles  of  diet.  Some  of  the 
breakfast  foods  so  popular  at  the  present  time  are  made 
from  this  cereal.  The  kernels  of  corn  contain  much  starch, 
and  cornstarch  is  an  important  product  of  this  useful  grain  ; 
there  are  great  factories  for  its  manufacture  in  New  York 
and  surrounding  states.  Glucose  is  a  sirup  made  from  corn 
and  serves  as  a  substitute  for  sugar,  though  it  possesses  less 
sweetening  power.  It  is  the  chief  ingredient  in  cheap  candies 
and  is  used  in  large  quantities  in  preserving,  as  it  is  said  to 
keep  the  fruit  in  good  form  and  color.  It  is  used  also  in 
large  quantities  for  mixing  with  molasses  and  other  sirups. 

The  stalks  and  leaves  of  corn,  if  green  and  tender,  make 
good  food  for  cattle  and  are  much  used  for  fodder.  They 
are  sweet  and  juicy,  and  come  at  a  time  when  the  grass  in 
the  pasture  is  apt  to  be  dry.  Great  fields  of  corn  are  planted 
for  this  purpose,  particularly  in  the  dairy  regions,  and  are 
fed  to  cattle  during  the  summer.  Sometimes  the  stalks  are 
cut  when  green,  and  are  put  into  tall,  air-tight  bins  called 
silos,  where  they  are  kept  until  winter  and  then  fed  to  cows. 

But  beside  its  value  as  a  food  product,  corn  has  other 
uses  which  may  not  be  so  familiar  to  you.  The  dry  cobs  are 
used  for  fuel  in  the  corn-raising  regions.  Three  tons  of  cobs 
are  said  to  be  equal,  for  heating  purposes,  to  one  ton  of  coal. 
Large  quantities  of  corn  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of 


134  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

whisky,  alcohol,  and  other  spirits,  and  distilleries  are  found 
in  Louisville,  Peoria,  and  other  cities  in  the  corn  belt.  An 
oil  is  made  from  the  grain  which  is  used  in  diluting  olive 
oil,  in  the  manufacture  of  soaps,  as  a  lubricator,  and  for 
other  purposes.  The  corn  stalks  are  sometimes  used  for 
thatching  roofs.  Stalks,  leaves,  husks,  and  pith  are  being 
used  more  and  more  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  Most 
paper  to-day  i&  made  from  wood  pulp,  and,  as  the  forests  are 
fast  disappearing,  many  people  are  wondering  what  will  be 
the  future  source  of  supply  for  paper  manufacture.  Some 
people  think  our  cornfields  will  supply  it.  The  husks  are 
used  for  mats  and  mattresses.  The  pith  has  a  peculiar  use. 
It  is  compressed  into  sheets  and  is  put  between  the  steel 
plates  of  battleships.  If  a  small  quantity  of  this  compressed 
pith  is  put  into  a  glass  and  water  added,  the  pith  will  swell 
very  quickly  and  fill  the  glass.  So,  if  a  cannon  ball  pierces 
the  side  of  a  battleship  which  is  covered  with  this  material, 
the  moment  the  water  touches  it,  it  will  swell  sufficiently 
to  fill  the  hole. 

It  seems  that  with  corn,  as  with  other  products  of  which 
we  have  spoken,  there  is  no  waste  portion,  but  every  part  — 
cob,  kernels,  husks,  leaves,  pith,  and  stalk  —  finds  a  use. 

So  far  we  have  been  speaking  chiefly  of  one  kind  of  corn, 
Indian  corn,  or  maize,  as  it  is  called  in  this  country.  The 
Europeans  had  never  seen  it  until  they  found  it  growing 
in  the  fields  of  the  Indians.  Although  it  was  one  of  the 
chief  articles  of  food  to  the  red  man,  all  their  cornfields  put 
together  would  not  produce  what  is  raised  to-day  in  one 
county  of  Illinois.  We  do  not  know  certainly  just  where 
corn  was  first  grown,  but  we  do  know  that  Columbus 
carried  some  of  tin-  strange  food  back  to  Spain,  where  it 


CORN  135 

was  afterwards  raised,  and  from  there  it  spread  through  the 
countries  of  Europe  and  Asia.  To-day  it  is  cultivated  to 
some  extent  in  nearly  every  country  of  the  world  where 
the  climate  is  not  too  cold,  but  nowhere  in  such  large  quan- 
tities as  in  the  United  States.  Austria-Hungary  is  the  next 
greatest  producer,  and  Mexico  and  India  depend  on  it  to  a 
considerable  extent  for  a  food  product. 

Indian  corn  has  some  near  relatives  which  you  probably 
like  better  to  eat.  You  are  all  familiar  with  pop  corn  and 
know  its  use.  Sweet  corn  is  one  of  our  appetizing  summer 
foods,  and  quantities  of  it  are  canned  so  that  we  can  enjoy 
it  in  the  winter  season  also.  Did  you  ever  think  what  an 
immense  number  of  cans  must  be  filled  each  year  to  supply 
the  demand  ? 

Most  of  the  sweet  corn  is  grown  in  New  England,  par- 
ticularly in  Maine.  The  valley  of  the  Kennebec  River  is  a 
very  productive  area,  and  many  of  the  large  canneries  are 
in  this  region.  Sweet  corn  is  planted  and  tended  much  as 
Indian  corn  is,  and,  when  it  is  nearly  ripe,  inspectors  are 
sent  by  the  canners  into  the  fields  to  tell  the  farmers  when  to 
gather  the  ears,  so  that  they  will  be  at  their  best.  After  the 
crop  is  gathered  and  sent  to  the  canneries,  it  is  husked  by 
hand,  and,  for  the  few  weeks  that  the  industry  lasts,  whole 
families  find  employment  in  husking  the  corn  or  in  some 
other  part  of  the  work.  The  corn  is  shelled  by  machinery 
and  then  partially  cooked.  The  cans  are  then  filled  and  the 
cooking  completed.  The  sealing,  labeling,  and  shipping 
keep  many  hands  busy  until  the  last  of  September,  when 
the  canning  is  finished  for  the  year. 

Maine  has  more  than  fifty  canneries,  some  of  which  pre- 
pare daily  from  fifty  to  seventy  thousand  cans,  though  most 


136  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

of  them  are  much  smaller.  From  five  hundred  thousand  to 
a  million  cases  (the  number  depending  on  the  crop  of  corn) 
are  often  sent  out  of  the  state  in  one  year.  Much  of  this  is 
shipped  from  Portland,  which  is  the  center  of  the  industry. 

There  are  other  members  of  the  corn  family  which  have 
important  and  interesting  uses.  As  you  sweep  the  floors  of 
your  house,  did  you  ever  wonder  where  the  stiff  straws,  of 
which  your  broom  is  made,  come  from  ?  They  are  obtained 
from  a  cousin  of  the  Indian  corn,  which,  from  the  use  to 
which  the  tassels  are  put,  is  called  broom  corn.  This  vari- 
ety is  raised  in  some  of  the  states  of  the  corn  belt,  chiefly 
in  Illinois,  which  produces  one  half  of  the  crop.  It  is  raised 
also  to  some  extent  in  Kansas,  Ohio,  and  Missouri.  Its 
cultivation  is  similar  to  that  of  Indian  corn,  but  farmers 
find  more  difficulty  in  producing  a  successful  crop.  One 
ton  will  yield  brush  enough  to  make  one  hundred  dozen 
brooms. 

Another  relative  of  the  maize  is  the  Kafir  corn,  now  cul- 
tivated in  many  parts  of  the  West.  It  takes  its  name  from 
the  Kafirs,  a  native  tribe  of  South  Africa,  who  have  raised 
this  corn  for  many  years.  It  furnishes  a  good  food  for 
cattle  and  is  being  introduced  into  the  United  States,  as  it 
will  grow  successfully  in  places  where,  because  of  the  lack 
of  rain,  other  varieties  cannot  be  raised.  The  crops  of 
Kansas  and  Oklahoma  have  been  much  increased  since  the 
introduction  of  Kafir  corn. 

The  corn  family  has  still  other  members.  Sorghum,  from 
which  molasses  is  made,  and  the  common  sugar  cane  of  the 
South  also  belong  to  this  family,  and  all  these  bear  a  much 
stronger  resemblance  to  one  another  than  relatives  in  the 
human  family  often  do. 


CORN  137 

Topics  FOR  STUDY 
I 

1.  Value  and  importance  of  the  corn  product. 

2.  Corn  area  of  the  United  States. 

3.  Trip  from  the  home  town  to  a  farm  in  the  corn  belt. 

4.  An  Illinois  boy's  farm. 

5.  Breeding  new  corn. 

6.  Uses  of  corn. 

7.  History  of  corn. 

8.  Corn  in  other  countries. 

9.  The  corn  family.  ,.,. 

1.  Review  Chapter  IV  and  explain  why  such  great  corn  crops  can 
be  grown  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  the  waterways  of  the  Mississippi  Valley ;  also 
of  all  the  railroads  you  know  that  enter  it. 

3.  On  a  map  of  the  United  States,  color  the  corn  belt  and  write 
the  names  of  the  states  included. 

4.  Find  the  large  cities  in  this  belt  to  which  you  think  corn  is 
sent  for  distribution.    Find  some  of  the  railroads  which  carry  it; 
some  of  the  rivers. 

5.  Name  some  parts  of  the  corn  which  were  formerly  waste  prod- 
ucts.   Of  what  use  is  each  ? 

6.  How  does  the  United  States  government  aid  in  the  corn  in- 
dustry ?    In  what  other  industries  have  you  read  of  help  given  to  the 
people  by  the  government? 

7.  How  has  the  size  and  surface  of  the  United  States  influenced 
the  kind  of  machinery  used? 

Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  previous  chapters. 

Illinois  Texas  Great  Lake  route 

Iowa  New  York  Chicago 

Kansas  Oklahoma  St.  Louis 

Nebraska  New  England  Louisville 

Missouri  Mexico  Kansas  City 

Ohio  India  Peoria 

Indiana  Kennebec  River  Portland 


CHAPTER  XI 
COAL 

What  should  we  do  without  coal,  that  hard,  black  rock 
which  warms  our  houses,  runs  our  locomotives,  and  which 
yields  us  many  useful  products,  gas  for  lighting  and  heat- 
ing, dyes,  medicines,  and  oils  ?  The  industrial  world  of 
the  present  could  not  exist  without  coal,  yet  before  its  dis- 
covery people  managed  to  live  comfortably,  though  they 
could  not  carry  on  the  commerce,  the  manufacturing,  or  the 
many  other  industries  which  make  our  world  to-day  very 
different  from  that  in  which  our  great-grandfathers  and 
great-grandmothers  lived. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  hunter  who  went  to  sleep  one  night 
by  his  camp  fire,  only  to  be  awakened  later  because  he  was 
so  warm.  To  his  astonishment  he  discovered  that  the  heat 
came,  not  from  the  wood  he  had  gathered  the  night  before, 
for  that  had  entirely  burned  out,  but  from  the  black  rock  in 
the  earth,  which  had  taken  fire.  And  this  hard  rock,  the 
burning  of  which  seemed  so  wonderful  to  him,  is  the  com- 
mon coal  with  which  we  are  so  familiar.  This  story,  if  it  is 
true,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  fact  that  many  of  our 
most  useful  products  have  been  discovered  by  accident. 

A  visit  to  a  deep  coal  mine  is  'wonderfully  interesting,  for 
the  life  and  surroundings  there  are  so  different  from  those 
to  which  we  are  accustomed  that  it  seems  as  if  we  were  in 
another  world.  There  are  many  states  to  which  we  might 
go  for  a  visit,  but  we  will  choose  Pennsylvania,  for  that 

138 


COAL 


139 


state  mines  more  coal  than  any  other  in  the  United  States. 
Rich  fields  of  soft,  or  bituminous,  coal  are  found  in  the 
western  part,  while  in  the  eastern  section  is  the  most  im- 
portant hard-coal  area  of  the  world. 

Wilkesbarre  is  a  typical  mining  city,  and  deep  in  the  earth 


Copyright,  Krystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  51.    MINERS'  WIVES  SEARCHING  FOR  COAL  ON  CULM  PILE 

under  it  we  shall  find  the  mine  which  we  are  to  explore. 
As  we  approach  the  city  by  train,  the  cars  become  more 
and  more  dusty,  and  when  we  finally  alight,  we  find  our- 
selves covered  with  coal  dust,  so  that  collars  and  cuffs,  faces 
and  hands,  are  anything  but  clean. 


140  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

The  first  sights  which  impress  us  in  a  drive  about  the 
city  are  the  great  hills  of  broken  stone.  These  are  "  culm 
heaps,"  the  accumulation  of  slate  and  other  refuse  which 
is  picked  out  of  the  coal  after  it  is  taken  from  the  mines. 
Little  use  has  been  found  for  the  culm,  and  the  huge  piles 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  52.    MINERS'  CHILDREN  AND  HOUSES  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

are  accumulating  so  rapidly  that  the  disposal  of  them  is 
becoming  a  serious  question.  Poor,  ragged  women  and 
children  are  often  seen  on  them  picking  up  stray  pieces  of 
coal,  or  bending  under  the  weight  of  heavy  pailfuls  which 
they  are  carrying  to  their  homes. 


COAL  141 

As  we  drive  by  one  large  field,  we  notice  a  valley,  or 
depression,  in  the  middle  of  it,  different  from  anything  we 
have  ever  seen.  The  driver  informs  us  that  a  mine  under- 
neath once  caved  in,  and  the  ground  has  sunk  into  this 
curious  shape.  It  seems  strange  to  think  that  there  are 
mines  under  the  ground  on  which  we  are  riding,  and  stranger 
still  that  the  whole  city  of  Wilkesbarre  is  undermined  to 
within  one  block  of  the  central  square,  and  that  many  hun- 
dreds of  people  and  animals  are  living  and  working  beneath 
the  ground. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  the  mine  which  we  have  come  to 
visit.  First,  however,  we  must  obtain  permission  to  descend, 
a  privilege  not  always,  and  in  some  mines  never,  granted  to 
visitors.  Then  we  must  put  on  our  oldest  clothes  and  a 
cap  which  will  cover  our  hair,  for  a  coal  mine  is  not  the 
cleanest  place  in  the  world.  Just  before  starting,  the  "  boss  " 
who  is  to  accompany  us  gives  us  some  long-handled  tin 
lamps  to  carry,  and  we  make  our  way  toward  the  shaft,  or 
opening  in  the  ground,  which  leads  down  to  the  levels  where 
the  coal  is  obtained.  There  are  four  divisions  in  this  great 
opening,  two  for  the  elevators  which  hoist  and  lower  the  coal 
and  the  workmen,  one  for  ventilating  the  mine,  and  the 
fourth  for  pumping  out  the  water  which  constantly  accumu- 
lates underground.  The  shaft  in  this  particular  mine  is 
about  eight  hundred  feet  in  depth,  a  little  less  than  a  sixth 
of  a  mile.  Some  mines  are  much  deeper  than  this.  In  some 
countries  the  coal  miners  go  nearly  a  mile  below  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  for  their  day's  work. 

The  elevator  which  takes  us  down  into  the  mine  is  much 
like  a  common  freight  elevator,  consisting  of  a  floor  with  a 
rail  along  two  sides,  to  which  we  cling  as  we  think  of  the 


142 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


dark  journey  we  are  to  take.  Strong  cables  from  each  cor- 
ner join  into  one  very  large  one,  and  we  are  somewhat  reas- 
sured when  we  are  told  that  no  miner  is  allowed  to  descend 


FIG.  53.    MINERS  STARTING  TO  GO  DOWN  THE  SHAFT 

into  the  mine  in  the  morning  until  after  this  cable  has  been 
carefully  inspected. 

The  drop  of  eight  hundred  feet  is  not  so  fearful  as  we 
had  imagined ;  indeed  it  is  over  so  quickly  that  we  have 


COAL  143 

little  time  to  be  frightened.  But  what  a  strange  world 
greets  our  eyes  as  we  step  from  the  elevator  at  the  foot  of 
the  shaft !  A  long  gangway,  with  walls  and  floor  and  ceil- 
ing all  of  shining  black  coal,  stretches  out  into  the  darkness. 
This  gangway  is  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet  wide  and  per- 
haps ten  feet  high,  and  for  some  distance  from  the  shaft  is 
lighted  by  electricity.  The  first  thing  our  conductor  does 
as  we  step  from  the  elevator  is  to  telephone  to  the  engineer 
at  the  surface.  Yes,  telephones  and  electric  lights  are  in 
many  of  the  modern  mines,  and  in  some  the  cars  which 
bring  the  coal  to  the  shaft  are  run  by  electricity  also. 
Those  in  the  mine  we  are  visiting  are  drawn  by  mules. 
There  are  eighty  sleek,  fat,  well-kept  mules,  some  of  which 
have  never  been  up  to  the  surface  of  the  earth  since  they 
were  first  taken  down  nine  years  before.  Their  stables  are 
neat  and  clean,  and  their  feed  troughs  are  supplied  with 
running  water.  They  are  given  a  good  breakfast  and  supper, 
but  are  not  taken  from  their  work  for  dinner.  The  animals 
are  intelligent  and  soon  know  without  a  command  when  to 
start  with  their  loads,  and  when  and  where  to  stop. 

Our  guide  tells  us  that  there  are  twenty-two  miles  of 
railroad  track  in  this  mine,  which  covers  an.  area  of  three 
quarters  of  a  square  mile  ;  and  although  we  spend  the  whole 
forenoon  in  visiting  different  portions,  we  really  see  only 
a  very  small  part  of  it. 

Finally  our  guide  is  ready,  and  we  start  out  to  see  the 
miners  actually  at  work.  We  travel  beyond  the  electric 
lights  and  must  light  our  lamps.  They  burn  with  bright 
flames  which  flare  and  blow  to  and  fro  in  the  currents  of 
air  which  strike  them  now  and  then.  We  see,  coming 
toward  us  out  of  the  deep  blackness,  some  waving  lights, 


144  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

which  remind  us  of  wandering  will-o'-the-wisps,  but  as  they 
come  nearer  we  see  that  they  are  only  the  lamps  burning  in 
the  caps  of  a  group  of  workmen.  This  mine  is  considered 
very  safe,  as  it  is  free  from  the  gases  which  sometimes  cause 
the  terrible  explosions  of  which  we  will  speak  later.  So  here 
we  do  not  have  to  carry  the  safety  lamp  in  which  the  flame 
is  inclosed  by  wire  gauze. 

Presently  we  see  that  there  are  openings  leading  off  from 
either  side  of  the  main  gallery  in  which  we  are  walking. 
These  are  called  "pockets,"  or  chambers,  and  in  each  of 
them  a  miner  with  his  two  laborers  is  at  work.  These 
pockets  are  of  different  lengths  and,  as  they  are  worked 
farther  and  farther,  will  become  galleries  connecting  with 
other  gangways  parallel  with  the  main  one.  So  you  see 
that  the  mine  is  a  network  of  passages  in  which  one  might 
easily  get  lost;  but  the  miners  find  their  way  as  readily  as 
we  do  upon  the  streets  of  the  busy  city  overhead. 

A  man  is  not  allowed  to  mine  anthracite  coal  until  he  has 
passed  an  examination,  in  which  he  must  prove  himself  to 
be  of  some  intelligence  and  acquainted  with  the  use  of  ex- 
plosives, which  are  much  used  in  hard-coal  mining.  If  his 
examination  proves  satisfactory,  he  is  given  a  certificate 
and  becomes  a  "  certified  miner."  He  usually  receives  about 
five  dollars  a  day,  out  of  which  he  must  provide  his  own 
tools  and  explosives  and  pay  his  own  laborers.  Each  of 
these  workmen  receives  from  ninety  cents  to  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  per  day,  so  you  see  that  the  amount  left  for  the 
miner  himself  is  not  great.  While  our  guide  is  giving  us 
this  information,  we  hear  a  shout  and  see  two  Bashing  lights 
coming  rapidly  toward  us  out  of  the  darkness.  We  are  in- 
clined to  run  but  are  assured  that  we  are  safe  where  we  are. 


COAL  145 

The  lights,  which  are  in  the  caps  of  two  miners,  approach  no 
nearer.  Soon  a  dull,  heavy  roar  is  heard,  and  the  two  men 
start  back  to  their  work.  Our  guide  tells  us  that  the  noise 
was  caused  by  the  miner  in  the  nearest  pocket  blasting  to 
loosen  the  coal.  When  we  reach  the  place  we  see  a  huge 
mass  which  has  fallen,  and  find  the  miner  using  his  pickax 
and  hammer  to  break  off  more  of  the  loosened  pieces  from 
the  wall.  While  we  are  looking,  he  finishes  his  work  and 
starts  for  home,  though  it  is  not  yet  noontime.  A  miner 
is  able  to  mine  in  a  few  hours  all  that  his  two  laborers  can 
break  up,  load,  and  get  to  the  shaft  in  the  whole  day,  so  that 
by  noontime  most  of  the  certified  miners  have  left  the  mine. 
As  we  wander  on  through  the  dark  galleries,  we  are 
astonished  at  the  quantity  of  lumber  used  to  support  the 
walls  and  roof.  In  some  places  they  are  entirely  sheathed 
over  with  plank  upheld  by  strong  joists,  so  that  no  black, 
rocky  wall  can  be  seen.  Every  little  while  we  come  to 
large  doors  which  bar  our  way,  and  in  many  cases  boys  who 
are  sitting  beside  them  open  them  for  us.  What  a  monoto- 
nous life  this  must  be,  to  sit  alone  in  the  dark  all  day  long, 
and  open  these  doors  for  the  mules  and  cars  to  pass  through ! 
The  doors  help  in  the  ventilation  of  the  mine,  for  they 
direct  currents  of  fresh  air  into  passages  where  otherwise 
the  miners  would  not  be  able  to  work.  The  machinery 
which  pumps  out  the  foul  air,  and  thus  allows  the  fresh  air 
to  rush  in,  is  the  most  important  of  all  that  is  used  in  mines, 
for  without  fresh  air  no  miner  could  live  long  in  these 
underground  passages.  The  air  seems  to  us  pure  and  not 
disagreeable,  as  we  had  expected  to  find  it.  Our  guide  tells 
us  that  the  workmen  are  usually  healthy,  and  are  long-lived 
unless  cut  off  by  some  accident. 


146 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


All  coal  is  not  mined  in  the  way  we  have  described,  for  in 
some  cases  the  seams  are  so  near  the  surface  that  a  deep 
shaft  is  not  necessary.  As  shown  in  the  pictures,  a  tunnel 
is  dug  into  the  hillside  where  the  outcropping  of  the  coal 
has  been  discovered,  tracks  are  laid  in  this  passageway,  and 
the  coal  is  brought  out  on  cars  run  by  a  stationary  engine 


FIG.  54.    SLOPE  MINING 
Bringing  coal  to  the  surface 

or  drawn  by  mules.  As  this  mining  is  carried  farther  and 
farther  into  the  earth,  a  shaft  becomes  necessary  to  reach 
the  lower  levels.  This  stripping  of  the  coal  from  where  it 
lies  near  the  surface  is  called  drift-  or  slope-mining  or  tun- 
neling, and  often  precedes  mining  by  a  shaft. 

As  we  look  at  the  glistening  walls  around  us,  we  wonder 
what  this  black  rock  really  is,  and  why  it  will  burn  so 


COAL  147 

steadily  and  with  such  heat  when  other  rocks  put  our  fires 
out.  It  is  an  interesting  story,  one  of  the  chapters  in  Na- 
ture's book,  which,  to  those  who  can  read  it,  reveals  most 
wonderful  secrets.  In  the  story  of  coal,  Mother  Nature 
bids  us  go  back  in  the  history  of  the  world  many,  many 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  55.   MINERS  GOING  INTO  SLOPE 

years,  to  a  time  when  the  climate  was  much  warmer  than 
at  present  and  when  there  was  no  frigid  zone.  There  was 
no  man  as  yet  upon  the  earth.  Perhaps  he  could  not  have 
lived  here  then  because  of  the  gases  with  which,  some 
geologists  tell  us,  the  air  was  filled.  But  carbonic  acid  gas, 


148  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

of  which  there  was  probably  much  in  the  atmosphere,  is 
just  the  food  that  plants  like  best,  so  they  grew  to  immense 
size.  These  were  curious  plants  which  grew  in  the  Carbon- 
iferous age.  We  should  think  them  very  queer  indeed. 
We  should  miss  the  flowers  which  make  our  earth  so  beau- 
tiful, for  there  were  none  then,  except  a  few  so  small  and 
dull  and  so  much  like  leaves  and  buds  that  they  would 
have  been  hard  to  find. 

Imagine  ferns,  somewhat  like  those  which  wave  in  our 
swamps,  grown  to  huge  trees,  or  the  little  club  moss  as 
large  as  our  big  oaks  and  elms,  and  you  will  have  some 
idea  of  the  wonderful  vegetation  of  that  far-away  time. 
There  were  thick  forests  of  these  giant  ferns  and  mosses 
mingled  with  hundreds  of  other  trees.  These  had  all  grown 
to  a  great  size  and  to  a  good  old  age ;  some  had  fallen  and 
decayed,  and  others  had  taken  their  places,  when  Nature 
began  her  work  of  mountain-building. 

As  the  earth  cooled,  the  crust  or  surface  contracted  and 
wrinkled,  much  as  the  skin  of  a  baked  apple  does  when 
taken  from  the  oven.  The  crust  sank  in  some  places  and 
was  pushed  up  in  others.  These  sunken  regions  were  cov- 
ered by  water  which  flowed  in  over  them,  and  in  these 
places,  as  the  years  went  on,  were  spread  out  great  quanti- 
ties of  soil  which  had  been  worn  from  the  upraised  portions 
of  land. 

As  the  movements  of  the  crust  continued  through  the  cen- 
turies, these  submerged  regions  were  raised  above  the  waters, 
and  another  forest  grew  and  flourished  above  the  sunken 
one.  This  in  turn  was  submerged  and  covered  with  silt, 
and  from  heat  and  pressure  both  vegetation  and  soil  grad- 
ually Inmlcned  into  rock.  This  happened  many  times,  and 


COAL  149 

the  buried  forests  gradually  became  changed  into  the  hard, 
black  substance  we  know  as  coal.  The  lower  layers,  you 
can  see,  would  be  harder  and  less  like  wood  than  those 
buried  later,  because  the  heat  and  the  pressure  were  much 
greater  as  the  distance  from  the  surface  increased. 

This  hardest  variety,  which  burns  with  110  smoke  and 
gives  a  great  heat,  is  what  is  known  as  anthracite  coal.  The 
softer  kind  is  called  bituminous  and  is  found  in  much 
greater  quantities  than  the  anthracite.  Then  there  is  a  kind 
formed  under  less  heat  and  pressure,  in  which  wood,  leaves, 
and  twigs  can  be  seen  partially  changed  into  coal ;  this  is 
called  lignite.  And  last  of  all  is  the  peat,  which  you  can 
find  for  yourselves  to-day  in  swamps.  For  a  long  time  the 
grasses  and  leaves  and  plants  have  grown  and  died  and  de- 
cayed, so  that  if  you  were  to  dig  down  for  some  distance 
you  would  find  the  soil  made  of  this  vegetable  matter  called 
peat.  Now  suppose  the  swamps  should  sink,  or  for  some 
reason  be  covered  with  water.  For  many  years  the  rivers 
and  brooks  would  carry  down  and  spread  their  loads  of 
silt  over  the  bottom  of  the  pond  or  lake  formed  in  the  de- 
pression, and  the  peat  would  in  time  harden  into  coal  some- 
thing like  that  which  is  mined  to-day.  Peat  is  found  in 
large  quantities  in  the  bogs  and  swamps  of  Ireland,  and  is 
used  to  a  great  extent  for  fuel  by  the  people  of  that  coun- 
try. It  is  also  found  in  considerable  quantity  in  the  United 
States.  Perhaps  when  our  forests  have  vanished  under  the 
hand  of  the  lumberman,  and  our  coal  beds  are  exhausted, 
peat  may  come  into  greater  use  with  us  as  a  fuel. 

The  softer  coal  burns  much  more  easily  than  the  anthra- 
cite. Curious  stories  are  told  of  the  difficulty  which  the 
discoverers  of  hard  coal  had  in  persuading  people  to  use  it. 


150  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

When  they  could  not  make  it  burn  in  their  stoves,  they  were 
sure  they  had  been  cheated,  and  that  a  black  rock  had  been 
sold  them  instead  of  coal. 

If  the  coal  "seams,"  as  they  are  called,  had  remained 
where  they  were  formed,  you  can  readily  see  that  they 
would  be  so  deep  in  the  earth  that  we  might  never  have 
known  anything  about  them.  But  the  movements  of  the 
earth's  crust  which  are  continually  going  on  have  lifted 
and  folded  and  bent  these  layers,  until  they  are  far  above 
the  places  where  they  were  changed  into  coal.  The  rivers 
and  brooks,  and  the  frosts  and  snows  have  all  helped  in 
wearing  away  the  land,  and  in  many  places  have  lowered  it 
enough  so  that  the  coal  layers  are  near  the  surface,  and 
sometimes  even  crop  out. 

You  know  how  disagreeable  and  unhealthful  it  is  to  have 
any  decaying  vegetable  matter  around  our  houses,  because 
of  the  gases  which  are  given  off.  The  wind  scatters  these 
gases  and  brings  us  purer  air  to  breathe.  Now  as  the  woody 
matter,  which  forms  the  coal,  decayed,  it  was  covered  with 
soil  and  water.  This  prevented  the  gases  escaping,  and  it 
is  because  of  their  presence  that  coal  burns  so  readily.  But 
it  is  the  gases  also  which  make  the  miner's  life  such  a  dan- 
gerous one.  The  two  that  are  most  dreaded  are  called  fire 
damp  and  choke  damp.  Fire  damp  is  a  gas  that  explodes 
with  great  violence  when  fire  comes  in  contact  with  it. 
Sometimes  the  force  of  the  explosion  is  sufficient  to  dislodge 
great  masses  of  rock  and  coal,  which  block  up  the  passages 
so  that  the  miners  cannot  make  their  way  back  to  the  shaft. 
Even  though  the  imprisoned  miners  are  unhurt,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  rescue  them  quickly,  for,  following  the  explosion  of 
fire  damp  conies  the  more  fearful  choke  damp,  which  quickly 


COAL 


151 


suffocates  them.  The  terrible  accident  in  a  French  mine,  in 
1906,  in  which  more  than  a  thousand  miners  lost  their  lives, 
was  caused  by  an  explosion  of  gas.  In  mines  where  these 


FIG.  56.    ONE  MILE  UNDERGROUND  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

gases  are  known  to  exist  in  great  quantity,  many  precau- 
tions are  taken  for  the  miners'  safety.  Lamps  with  open 
flames  are  not  allowed;  the  kind  known  as  the  safety 
lamp  is  the  only  one  used.  This  lamp  was  invented  by 


152  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Sir  Humphry  Davy,  and  is  called  the  Davy  lamp.  In  it  the 
flame  is  inclosed  by  wire  gauze  so  that  it  cannot  come  in 
contact  with  the  gas. 

In  most  mines  a  fire  boss  is  employed  whose  duty  it  is, 
every  morning  before  the  first  workmen  go  down,  to  inspect 
those  parts  of  the  mine  which  the  miners  will  enter.  But 
in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  accidents  happen,  and  we 
often  read  in  the  daily  papers  of  some  awful  mine  disaster 
caused  by  the  explosion  of  gas  or  dust.  There  are  other 
dangers  which  a  miner  has  to  face  besides  the  presence  of 
gases.  A  great  quantity  of  water  enters  the  mine  and  has 
to  be  pumped  out.  Sometimes  more  water  than  coal  is  taken 
out  of  a  mine.  Where  do  you  suppose  so  much  comes 
from  ?  The  blast  of  a  miner  may  loosen  the  rock  which 
incloses  some  underground  stream,  and  the  water  will  pour 
in  so  suddenly  as  to  flood  the  passage  before  the  men  can 
escape.  Abandoned  mines  will  usually  fill  with  water,  and, 
if  another  mine  is  worked  too  near  a  flooded  one,  the  walls 
sometimes  break  under  the  pressure,  and  the  water  pours 
through.  Miners  are  sometimes  careless  in  their  use  of 
explosives,  and  supports  are  torn  away  by  the  force  of  the 
shock.  In  these  ways  many  lives  are  lost. 

One  of  the  greatest  dangers  to  the  workmen  is  the  caving 
in  of  the  mine.  This  may  come  from  several  causes,  some 
of  which  have  been  mentioned.  "  Robbing  the  mine  "  is  the 
chief  cause  of  its  caving  in.  The  amount  of  coal  which  has 
to  be  left  in  a  mine  as  a  support  for  the  weight  of  earth 
above  is  much  greater  than  that  taken  out.  In  the  first  min- 
ing the  workmen  do  not  take  out  much  coal,  only  enough 
to  open  and  connect  the  passages,  leaving  large  quantities 
untouched.  The  second  mining  is  a  little  more  dangerous, 


COAL  153 

as  the  mine  is  worked  again  for  more  of  the  supporting 
coal,  and  the  partitions  and  pillars  are  made  smaller.  Some- 
times the  mine  is  worked  a  third  time  and  even  more  coal 
is  taken  from  the  sides  and  walls  of  the  passages.  This  is 
"robbing  the  mine."  Such  mining,  indeed,  robs  it  of  its 
safety,  for  the  weight  of  earth  above  is  often  too  great 
for  the  reduced  pillars  to  support,  even  though  they  are 


FIG.  57.    SETTING  PROPS. 

strengthened  by  huge  timbers.     Caving   in   often   follows 
mine  robbing. 

The  life  of  a  miner  is  attended  by  so  many  dangers  that 
laws  for  his  protection  have  been  passed  in  the  different 
states  where  mining  is  carried  on.  In  Pennsylvania  there  is 
a  law  which  requires  two  hundred  cubic  feet  of  fresh  air  per 
minute  for  every  man  in  the  mines.  One  way  of  securing 
this  is  by  immense  fan  wheels  with  great  blades  something 


154  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

like  those  of  a  windmill,  which  revolve  at  tremendous 
speed.  These  wheels  are  built  at  the  mouths  of  the  air 
shafts  to  pump  out  the  foul  air,  and  the  pure  air  rushes  in 
through  the  other  openings.  The  law  provides  also  that 
the  doors  which  direct  the  currents  of  air  in  the  passages 
must  be  tended  by  keepers. 

In  each  mine  there  is  a  room  bricked  off,  warmed,  and 
provided  with  medicines,  blankets,  and  bandages,  so  that 
injured  workmen  may  not  have  to  wait  to  be  taken  above- 
ground  before  anything  can  be  done  for  their  relief.  The 
superintendent  of  the  mine  and  some  of  the  bosses  receive 
instructions  from  a  physician  as  to  the  proper  treatment  in 
case  of  sickness  or  injury. 

Another  law  provides  that  no  coal  breaker  nor  any  other 
building,  except  such  as  are  absolutely  necessary  to  hoist 
the  coal,  to  provide  air,  and  to  pump  out  the  water,  shall 
be  erected  over  the  shaft.  Before  this  law  was  made,  some 
serious  accidents  occurred  from  fires,  when  the  falling 
timber  and  machinery  blocked  up  the  shaft,  so  that  the 
men  were  imprisoned  in  the  mine.  These  are  only  a  few  of 
the  many  laws  which  have  been  made  to  protect  the  min- 
ers in  their  dangerous  underground  Me. 

There  is  much  to  be  done  to  the  anthracite  coal  after  it 
is  taken  from  the  ground,  before  it  is  ready  to  burn  in  our 
stoves.  It  comes  from  the  mine  in  huge  lumps,  some  as 
large  as,  or  larger  than,  a  bushel  basket,  and  it  must  be 
broken  up  into  suitable  sizes  before  it  can  be  used.  This  is 
done  in  a  coal  breaker.  On  arriving  at  the  breaker  the  coal 
is  taken  on  an  endless-chain  arrangement  to  the  highest  part 
of  the  building,  whence  it  falls  from  floor  to  floor,  until  it 
finally  drops  into  the  cars  waiting  to  receive  it. 


COAL  155 

As  the  coal  reaches  the  top  of  the  breaker,  it  falls  upon 
an  inclined  moving  floor,  on  either  side  of  which  men  stand 
with  pickaxes  or  huge  hammers  and  break  up  the  largest 
pieces.  It  then  passes  upon  great  screens,  which  shake 
continually  back  and  forth,  making  a  deafening  noise  and 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  58.    LARGEST  COAL  BREAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

shaking  the  smaller  pieces  into  screens  below.  These  great 
screens  are  inclined,  and  the  shaking  moves  the  coal  which 
is  too  large  to  go  through  the  meshes  to  the  lower  edges, 
where  it  falls  to  other  screens  with  coarser  meshes.  This 
process  goes  on  until  the  coal  is  sorted  into  various  sizes. 


156  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

These  have  different  names  by  which  buyers  can  order. 
Some  of  the  more  common  kinds  are  broken  coal,  egg,  stove, 
chestnut,  and  a  still  finer  variety  called  pea  coal. 

After  the  coal  is  thus  sorted  there  is  much  slate  and 
other  rock  fragments  mixed  with  it,  and  these  must  be 
picked  out  by  hand.  No  machine  has  yet  been  made  which 
will  successfully  separate  the  slate  from  the  coal,  though 
men  are  constantly  working  to  invent  one.  Every  breaker 
has  a  large  room,  or  several  rooms,  filled  with  wooden  shutes 
lined  with  sheet  iron,  down  which  the  coal  slides  in  endless 
streams  from  the  screen  rooms.  Boys  are  stationed  at  in- 
tervals along  the  shutes  to  pick  the  slate  from  the  coal. 
The  "  green  "  hands  are  near  the  top  and  the  more  experi- 
enced workmen  below,  and  by  the  time  the  coal  reaches 
the  last  boy,  little  slate  is  left  in  it.  All  day  long  the  boys 
sit  at  their  work  beside  the  continuous  stream  of  coal,  but 
no  matter  how  fast  their  fingers  may  fly,  they  can  never 
succeed  in  emptying  the  trough  before  them.  It  is  a  hard, 
miserable  life.  You  know  how  much  noise  a  little  coal  can 
make  when  it  is  shoveled  into  your  cellar.  Think  how 
noisy  this  room  must  be  where  there  are  many,  many  shutes 
all  filled  with  the  moving  coal.  There  can  be  no  talking 
even  if  the  boys  could  spare  time  for  it.  On  account  of  the 
dust,  the  coal  has  been  wet  in  the  screens  above,  and  in 
winter  the  handling  of  this  cold,  wet  rock  chaps  the  boy's 
hands  so  that  they  often  bleed,  and  the  finger  nails  are 
worn  down  to  the  quick.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  great 
ambition  of  all  breaker  boys  is  to  get  a  position  as  door- 
keeper or  mule  driver  in  the  mine.  That  seems  a  hard 
life  to  us,  but  it  is  much  to  be  preferred  to  the  work  in 
the  breaker. 


COAL  157 

The  coal,  after  being  cleaned  by  the  breaker  boys,  falls 
into  cars  waiting  to  receive  it,  and  is  run  out  to  tracks, 
whence  it  may  be  moved  to  the  great  shipping  ports.  The 
slate  which  has  been  picked  out  accumulates  in  the  hills  of 
culm  which  are  familiar  sights  in  all  anthracite  coal  regions. 
You  can  imagine  how  large  these  piles  must  be  and  how 
fast  they  grow,  for  about  one  sixth  of  all  the  coal  taken 
from  the  mines  is  waste  material. 

Before  the  coal  leaves  the  grounds,  it  is  tested  by  gov- 
ernment officials,  and  if  too  much  slate  is  found  in  it,  it  is 
sent  back  to  the  breaker  to  be  recleaned.  These  noisy,  dusty 
coal  breakers  are  found  only  in  the  anthracite  region,  for 
this  is  the  only  kind  of  coal  which  needs  to  go  through  the 
process. 

Coal  is  mined  in  twenty-eight  of  our  states  and  territories, 
and  it  exists  also  in  many  places  where  the  deposits  are  not 
thick  enough  to  pay  to  work.  The  seams  may  vary  in  thick- 
ness all  the  way  from  a  few  inches  to  fifty  or  sixty  feet, 
although  the  latter  are  rare.  In  the  United  States  where 
the  mineral  is  abundant,  little  is  mined  where  the  layers 
are  less  than  three  feet  thick,  but  this  is  not  usually  true 
of  other  countries. 

It  seems  queer  that,  considering  the  great  coal  area  in 
the  United  States,  the  anthracite  deposits  should  occupy  a 
region  not  half  so  large  as  the  little  state  of  Delaware.  Yet 
comparatively  small  as  this  area  is,  it  is  the  largest,  richest 
field  of  anthracite  coal  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  There 
are  three  great  regions  of  bituminous  coal  in  the  United 
States,  making  a  combined  area  nearly  as  large  as  Texas. 
The  eastern  field  is  found  along  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains, from  Pennsylvania  to  Alabama.  The  central  section 


158  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

includes  parts  of  Indiana  and  Kentucky  and  nearly  two 
thirds  of  Illinois. 

The  third  region  lies  farther  west,  including  parts  of 
Iowa,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  and  extending  into  adjacent 
states.  We  think  of  these  states  as  being  in  a  fertile  region 
and  yielding  rich  crops  of  wheat,  corn,  hay,  and  other  prod- 
ucts, and  are  apt  to  forget  that  from  beneath  the  surface,  as 
well  as  from  above,  a  rich  harvest  is  being  reaped.  Notice 
that  the  great  coal  areas  lie  chiefly  in  the  eastern  half  of 
the  country,  while  the  so-called  precious  metals,  gold  and 
silver,  lie  in  the  great  western  highland. 

Of  the  three,  coal  areas  which  we  have  located,  the  east- 
ern one  is  the  most  important ;  for  of  all  the  three  hundred 
million  tons  of  coal  which  we  mine  in  one  year,  Pennsyl- 
vania produces  nearly  one  half,  and  more  than  one  third 
of  all  her  output  comes  from  her  rich  anthracite  fields.  But 
what  an  enormous  amount !  Three  hundred  million  tons  of 
coal  every  year !  This  is  more  than  one  third  of  the  whole 
world's  supply.  If  this  were  all  piled  into  a  great  mass,  we 
could  build  a  solid  wall  forty  feet  high,  and  wide  enough 
to  afford  a  street  and  sidewalks  along  the  top,  on  which  we 
might  go  from  Boston  to  Denver.  If  this  great  pile  of  coal 
were  put  to  a  different  use,  it  would  feed  for  more  than 
twelve  million  years  a  fire  in  a  furnace  which  consumes 
eighteen  tons  a  year,  and  few  house  furnaces  burn  as  much. 

When  we  read  of  all  the  coal  which  is  taken  out  of  the 
ground  each  year,  we  begin  to  wonder  what  is  done  with  it. 
Near  the  coal  regions  there  are  great  cities,  in  which  the 
product  is  used  for  manufactures  and  from  which  it  is 
shipped.  These  cities  have  become  large  and  important 
mainly  because  of  their  location  near  the  mining  regions. 


COAL 


159 


There  are  also  many  railroads  having  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  cars  which  carry  only  coal ;  and  there  are  steamboats 
plying  on  river  and  lake  and  ocean,  loaded  entirely  with 
this  useful  black  rock. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  a  network  of  tracks 
extending  all  through  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  and  pene- 
trating its  many  coal  fields.  The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 


FIG.  59.    COAL  BARGES  ON  THE  OHIO  RIVER 
(Courtesy  of  the  Cincinnati  Industrial  Bureau) 

Western,  the  New  York  Central,  and  other  railroads  are 
much  interested  in  freighting  coal.  Some  railroads  own  the 
mines  whose  product  they  carry.  One  of  these  railroads 
has  seventy-five  thousand  cars  for  carrying  coal,  with  more 
than  a  thousand  engines  to  haul  them.  Hundreds  of  boats 
and  barges  loaded  with  coal  may  be  seen  on  the  Great  Lakes 
and  on  the  Ohio  and  adjacent  rivers. 


160  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

From  the  anthracite  region,  quantities  of  coal  are  sent  to 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  where  much  is  used  in  the 
great  manufacturing  industries,  while  some  is  shipped 
thence  to  other  eastern  cities.  Very  little  of  our  coal  is 
sent  abroad.  It  does  not  pay  to  carry  it  far  because  it  is  so 
bulky,  and  coal  deposits  are  so  widely  distributed  over  the 
earth  that  other  nations  can  get  theirs  near  at  hand. 

The  coal  mined  in  western  Pennsylvania  is  used  largely 
in  Pittsburg,  Buffalo,  Cincinnati,  and  other  cities  in  .that 
vicinity.  From  the  central  area,  most  of  the  coal  goes  to 
Chicago.  From  the  western  coal  field,  St.  Louis  receives  a 
greater  amount  than  any  other  city.  In  what  other  indus- 
tries have  these  cities  been  mentioned  ? 

Our  iron  and  steel  manufactures  are  greater  in  amount, 
less  in  cost,  and  finer  in  quality  than  those  of  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  One  reason  for  this  is  because  the 
rich  fields  of  coal  and  of  iron  lie  near  each  other.  All  along 
the  Appalachian  Mountains  there  are  vast  deposits  of  iron, 
and  even  richer  fields  have  been  found  around  Lake  Supe- 
rior. You  can  see  how  easily  and  cheaply  this  iron  ore  can 
be  brought  by  the  Great  Lake  route  to  the  manufacturing 
cities  in  Pennsylvania  and  vicinity.  No  wonder  that  Penn- 
sylvania leads  the  world  in  her  steel  products  when  the  two 
materials  necessary  for  such  manufactures  lie  so  near  to- 
gether or  are  connected  by  such  a  splendid  transportation 
route. 

If  you  will  look  at  the  map  you  will  see  that  coal  and 
iron  deposits  are  found  near  each  other  at  the  southern  end 
of  the  Appalachian  Mountains.  The  city  of  Birmingham  in 
Alabama  is  situated  near  the  center  of  these  southern  fields, 
making  it  the  "Pittsburg  of  the  South,"  the  industrial 


COAL  161 

center  of  the  country  between  Atlanta  and  New  Orleans. 
The  city  is  built  in  a  region  where  cotton  was  formerly  the 
chief  product,  but  the  riches  under  the  soil  have  proved 
greater  than  those  on  the  surface.  Now  the  cotton  planta- 
tions have  given  way  to  mines,  and  the  trains  leaving  the 
city  carry  more  iron  and  steel  than  bales  of  cotton. 

But  we  must  not  confine  our  study  of  coal  to  our  own 
country,  for  deposits  are  widely  distributed  over  the  earth. 
Many  of  these  are  being  mined,  but  many  others  are  as  yet 
untouched  and  will  be  a  source  of  future  wealth  to  the 
countries  in  which  they  are  situated.  Such  beds  are  found 
in  the  Chinese  and  Russian  empires  and  in  other  Eastern 
countries. 

Nearly  all  the  countries  of  Europe  mine  coal,  chief  among 
them  England,  Germany,  France,  and  Belgium.  The  prod- 
uct is  chiefly  of  the  bituminous  variety,  for  little  anthra- 
cite is  found  in  that  continent.  Until  recent  years  England 
led  the  world  in  the  amount  mined,  but  the  United  States 
has  finally  outstripped  her.  We  have  many  advantages 
over  her  which  explain  our  supremacy  in  the  race.  Eng- 
land's coal  has  been  mined  for  centuries,  and  was  one  of  her 
chief  sources  of  wealth  when  nothing  was  known  of  the 
vast  deposits  in  the  New  World.  So  her  mines  are  deeper 
and  harder  to  work  than  ours.  Many  of  the  seams  of  coal 
also  are  much  thinner  than  we  think  worth  working  here. 
London,  however,  still  holds  its  place  as  the  largest  coal 
market  of  the  world,  though  New  York  City  and  the  neigh- 
boring New  Jersey  ports  are  not  far  behind. 

A  story  is  told  of  the  opposition  to  coal  when  first  intro- 
duced into  London  furnaces.  It  was  bituminous  coal,  which, 
as  you  know,  burns  with  much  smoke.  People  thought 


162  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

London  would  become  very  unhealthful  in  consequence.  So 
much  was  said  on  the  subject  that  Parliament  was  forced 
to  pass  a  law  forbidding  the  use  of  coal  in  furnaces,  making 
it  a  crime  punishable  by  death.  This  law  was  in  force  for 
nearly  fifty  years,  when  it  was  repealed  by  the  efforts  of  a 
king  who  was  wise  enough  to  see  in  the  use  of  coal  the 
great  benefit  to  manufacturing. 

What  should  we  do  without  coal  ?  Our  factories  would 
stand  idle,  our  steamers  could  not  leave  their  wharves,  our 
train  service  would  be  paralyzed.  Such  power  lies  in  this 
strange,  black  rock ! 

In  many  factories,  particularly  in  those  of  iron  and  steel, 
coke  is  used  instead  of  coal  because  it  gives  more  heat. 
Coke  is  made  from  soft  coal  by  burning  it  in  ovens  from 
which  most  of  the  air  is  excluded.  The  gases  pass  off  and 
the  purer  carbon  remains.  Nearly  all  of  the  iron  in  the 
United  States  is  smelted  with  coke,  as  it  not  only  makes  a 
hotter  fire,  but  is  free  from  the  sulphur  sometimes  found  in 
coal,  which  is  injurious  to  the  steel  product.  The  great 
coke  ovens  of  the  United  States  are  near  Pittsburg,  and 
three  fourths  of  all  the  coke  made  in  our  country  comes 
from  this  region. 

But  if  we  would  know  all  the  uses  of  this  wonderful 
black  rock,  we  must  consider  some  very  different  substances 
from  the  dull-gray  coke.  The  gas  used  for  lighting  and 
heating  purposes  is  made  from  coal.  In  the  early  days  of 
gas  manufacture,  the  coal-tar  waste,  which  was  left  after 
making  the  gas,  was  a  great  nuisance.  If  carried  off  in 
streams  or  rivers,  it  polluted  the  waters  so  that  they  were 
useless  for  other  purposes.  People  living  farther  down  the 
streams  made  such  a  protest,  because  they  were  deprived 


COAL 


163 


of  the  use  of  the  water,  that  laws  were  passed  prohibiting 
the  disposal  of  the  waste  in  this  way.  Then  it  was  con- 
sumed at  great  expense  in  furnaces,  until  finally  science 
announced  a  wonderful  discovery.  From  this  black,  dirty- 
looking  coal  tar  wonderful  things  might  be  made.  And  then 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  60.    COKE  OVENS  AND  THEIR  SMOKE  CONSUMERS 
PITTSBURG,  PENNSYLVANIA 

came  the  manufacture  of  benzine  and  other  oils  which  are 

used  in  considerable  quantities  in  manufacturing  and  the  arts. 

But  the  scientists  believed  that  there  were  still  other 

useful  substances  left  in  this  waste  matter.    They  kept  on 


164  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  their  experiments,  and,  sure  enough,  by  mixing  strange 
compounds  with  some  of  the  substances  left  in  the  coal  tar, 
these  wise  men  finally  brought  to  light  beautiful  colors  — 
red,  purple,  blue,  green,  and  many  others.  Almost  a  miracle, 
is  it  not,  that  the  brilliant  coloring  matter  that  made  your 
dress  and  necktie  just  the  bright,  pretty  colors  you  like  so 
much  came  from  the  black,  dirty  coal  ?  These  aniline  dyes, 
as  they  are  called,  have  almost  entirely  supplanted  the  vege- 
table and  animal  substances  which  were  formerly  used,  for 
the  mineral  dyes  are  more  brilliant  and  can  be  produced 
much  more  cheaply. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 
I 

1.  Trip  to  a  coal  mine. 

2.  Description  of  mine. 

3.  Methods  of  mining. 

4.  Formation  of  coal. 

5.  Dangers  of  mining. 

6.  Laws  for  the  protection  of  miners. 

7.  The  coal  breaker. 

8.  Coal  areas  in  the  United  States. 

9.  Manufacturing  and  shipping  centers. 

10.  Coal  deposits  in  other  countries. 

11.  Uses  of  coal. 

II 

1.  Imagine  yourself  a  "  breaker  boy  "  and  write  a  story  concerning 
your  life  and  work. 

2.  Color  a  map  of  the  United  States  to  show  the  three  areas  of  bitu- 
minous coal  production  and  the  anthracite  area.  Mark  on  the  map  the 
names  of  the  states  included  and  the  principal  shipping  port  from 
each  area.    Trace  also  the  length  of  the  pile  of  coal  that  might  be 
made  from  our  annual  coal  production.   Indicate  by  dotted  lines  the 
coal-carrying  railroads.    Where  do  they  carry  it?   What  cities  men- 
tioned in  the  coal  industry  have  been  mentioned  in  other  industries  ? 


COAL 


165 


3.  Ship  a  cargo  of  coal  from  each  of  the  following  cities :  Pitts- 
burg,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  Birmingham.    Tell  in 
each  case  to  what  city  the  cargo  will  be  sent  and  by  what  route. 

4.  What  canals  are  used  to  aid  in  the  transportation  of  coal  ?  What 
rivers  ? 

5.  Great  coal-producing  countries  are  as  a  rule  manufacturing 
centers.    Find  in  your  textbook  what  are  the  chief  manufactures  of 
the  countries  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 


Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  previous  chapters. 


Middle  Atlantic  States 

Pennsylvania 

Alabama 

Illinois 

Kentucky 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Kansas 

Siberia 

China 

England 

Germany 

France 

Belgium 

Boston 


Denver 

New  York 

Philadelphia 

Pittsburg 

Cleveland 

Buffalo 

Chicago 

St.  Louis 

Birmingham 

London 

Susquehanna  River 

Allegheny  River 

Monongahela  River 

Delaware  River 

Mississippi  River 

Missouri  River 


Ohio  River 
Detroit  River 
St.  Clair  River 
Niagara  River 
Delaware  Bay 
Chesapeake  Bay 
Lake  Superior 
Lake  Michigan 
Lake  Huron 
Lake  Erie 
Lake  Ontario 
Lake  St.  Clair 
"  Soo  "  Canal 
Strait  of  Mackinac 


CHAPTER  XII 

IRON 

Iron  vessels  cross  the  ocean, 

Iron  engines  give  them  motion  ; 
Iron  needles  northward  veering, 

Iron  tillers  vessels  steering. 
Iron  pipe  our  gas  delivers, 

Iron  bridges  span  our  rivers. 
Iron  pens  are  used  for  writing, 

Iron  ink  our  thoughts  inditing. 
Iron  stoves  for  cooking  victuals, 

Iron  ovens,  pots,  and  kettles. 
Iron  horses  draw  our  loads, 

Iron  rails  compose  our  roads. 
Iron  anchors  hold  in  sands. 

Iron  bolts,  and  rods,  and  bands. 
Iron  houses,  iron  walls, 

Iron  cannon,  iron  balls, 
Iron  axes,  knives,  and  chains, 

Iron  augers,  saws,  and  planes, 
Iron  globules  in  our  blood, 

Iron  particles  in  food, 
Iron  lightning  rods  on  spires, 

Iron  telegraphic  wires, 
Iron  hammers,  nails,  and  screws, 

Iron  everything  we  use. 

Did  you  ever  think  that  the  nations  which  produce  the 
most  coal  and  iron  are  the  strongest  and  most  civilized  ? 
A  nation's  advance  may  be  measured  by  its  use  of  iron  ;  it 
is  the  metal  of  civilization,— 

For,  since  the  birth  of  time,  throughout  all  ages  and  nations, 
Has  the  craft  of  the  smith  been  held  in  repute  by  the  people. 

166 


IRON  •     167 

Iron  is  the  most  widespread  of  all  metals,  as  well  as  the 
most  useful.  It  can  be  cast  into  any  shape,  rolled  into 
sheets,  drawn  out  into  fine  wire  capable  of  supporting  great 
weights,  sharpened  into  sword  blades,  and  fashioned  into 
plowshares.  Frames  for  buildings,  steamships,  rails,  cars, 
engines ;  pipes  for  water,  gas,  and  oil ;  medicine  to  make  us 
strong ;  nails,  locks,  hinges,  horseshoes,  tools  of  all  sorts ; 
machinery  for  every  industry,  —  all  testify  to  the  great  vari- 
ety of  uses  to  which  iron  can  be  put. 

We  should  have  to  go  far  back  in  history  to  find  the 
period  when  iron  was  not  known.  The  Egyptians  used  it 
as  long  ago  as  when  the  great  pyramids  were  built.  In  the 
Bible  its  use  is  spoken  of  in  connection  with  early  He- 
brew history.  Moses  speaks  of  furnaces  for  melting  iron, 
and  we  even  have  given  us  in  these  ancient  records  the 
name  of  one  of  the  first  workers  in  iron  and  brass,— 
Tubal-Cain. 

More  than  thirty  million  tons  of  iron  ore  are  mined  in 
the  United  States  each  year,  which  is  worth  at  the  mine 
about  sixty  million  dollars.  After  being  separated  from  the 
impurities  with  which  it  is  found,  this  ore  yields  rather 
more  than  half  as  much  pig  iron,  or  about  eighteen  million 
tons.  It  is  hard  to  form  an  idea  of  what  these  figures  mean. 
Perhaps  an  illustration  may  serve  to  make  us  better  able  to 
appreciate  this  amount.  Suppose  we  construct  a  sidewalk, 
two  inches  thick  and  six  feet  wide,  out  of  the  iron  which  is 
taken  from  our  mines  in  one  year.  Such  a  sidewalk  would 
reach  more  than  halfway  around  the  world.  Remember 
this  sidewalk  is  to  be  made  of  the  iron  which  is  mined  in 
one  year  in  the  United  States  alone.  If  it  were  to  be  built 
of  all  the  iron  mined  annually  in  the  world,  it  would  stretch 


168     •  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

nearly  three  times  as  far,  or  completely  around  the  world 
and  nearly  one  half  that  great  distance  again. 

Where  does  all  this  iron  come  from  ?  It  is  widely  dis- 
tributed in  our  country  and  is  actually  mined  in  more  than 
half  of  our  states.  It  is  found,  however,  in  the  greatest 
quantity  in  only  a  few  of  these.  Around  Lake  Superior  in 
Minnesota  and  Michigan  are  the  richest  deposits  in  the 
world,  from  which  we  get  three  fourths  of  all  our  vast 
output.  The  Appalachian  Mountains  also  contain  rich  beds 
in  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Alabama,  Tennessee,  and 
other  states.  There  are  other  places  where  iron  mining  is 
profitable,  as  in  the  Adirondack  Mountains  and  in  Missouri. 
In  the  latter  state  there  are  two  low  mountains,  Pilot  Knob 
and  Iron  Mountain,  which  are  largely  composed  of  rich 
deposits  of  this  ore.' 

All  of  the  mines  in  the  Appalachian  Mountains  and  some 
of  those  in  the  lake  region,  especially  in  Michigan,  afe  deep 
mines  reached  by  a  shaft  through  which  the  iron  ore  is 
hoisted  in  much  the  same  way  that  coal  is  taken  out.  But 
many  of  the  mines  in  the  Mesabi  Range  in  Minnesota  are 
of  a  very  different  kind,  and  at  first  glance  you  would 
hardly  recognize  them  as  mines  at  all,  for  there  is  no  hard 
rock  to  be  blasted,  nor  are  any  of  the  methods  practiced 
which  are  associated  in  our  minds  with  mining.  No  iron 
was  mined  in  the  Mesabi  Range  before  1892.  To-day  in 
this  one  range  alone  there  are  mines  enough  in  operation  to 
produce  all  the  iron  and  steel  manufactured  in  all  Great 
Britain. 

If  you  were  to  purchase  a  mine  in  this  locality,  you 
would  buy  an  area  of  land  very  much  as  you  would  pur- 
chase a  farm.  The  forests,  if  any,  must  first  be  stripped  off, 


IRON  169 


and  then  perhaps  several  feet  of  surface  soil.  In  many 
places  this  has  already  been  done  by  the  great  prehistoric 
glacier.  When  the  overlying  strata  have  been  removed 
you  will  begin  to  wonder  where  the  iron  is,  for  all  that  is 
visible  to  the  eye  is  loose,  reddish-black  soil.  This  is  the 


FIG.  61.   IRON  MINES,  IRONWOOD,  MICHIGAN 

iron  itself.  Here  spread  out  in  thick  horizontal  layers  is 
the  ore  which  is  revolutionizing  the  world's  iron  and  steel 
industry. 

Great  steam  shovels  are  at  work  lifting  loads  of  this 
loose  soil  on  to  cars,  for  which  miles  of  railroads  have  been 
built  in  these  mines.  These  steam  shovels  are  wonder- 
ful machines.  One  can  lift  four  or  five  tons  at  a  scoop  and 


170 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


can  be  operated  by  only  four  or  five  men.  So  rapidly  do 
the  shovels  work  that  a  car  holding  fifty  tons  can  be  loaded 
in  five  or  ten  minutes.  Five  hundred  men  working  hard  all 
day  could  not  accomplish  so  much  as  one  of  these  machines. 
In  less  than  three  hours  a  fifty-car  train  can  be  loaded  and 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  62.    STEAM  SHOVEL  AT  WORK,  BURT  MINE,  MESABI  RANGE 

made  ready  to  start  to  some  shipping  center.  To  get  this 
amount  of  ore  from  a  shaft  mine  would  require  two  or 
three  days. 

From  one  mine  in  the  Mesabi  Range  two  million  tons 
of  ore  have  been  taken  in  one  year.   This  is  as  much  as  the 


IRON  171 

iron  product  of  the  whole  country  of  Sweden.  Five  mines 
in  the  same  range  are  producing  more  iron  every  year  than 
is  mined  in  the  whole  of  France,  which  is  the  fifth  in  rank 
of  all  the  iron-producing  countries.  In  some  of  the  mines 
the  ore  has  been  removed  to  the  depth  of  from  fifty  to  two 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  63.    OVERLOOKING  THE  ORE  DOCKS,  Two  HARBORS,  MINNESOTA 

hundred  feet,  and  a  seemingly  inexhaustible  supply  remains, 
while  new  mines  are  being  opened  every  year. 

All  iron  must  first  be  separated  from  the  other  substances 
with  which  it  is  found  in  the  earth  before  it  is  ready  for 
manufacture.  To  do  this  great  heat  is  necessary,  and 


172  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

consequently  much  coal  is  required.  The  iron  is  therefore 
transported  from  the  mines  to  the  coal  regions  to  be  smelted. 
Let  us  follow  it  in  its  journey  to  the  smelting  furnaces. 
Our  fifty-car  train  leaves  the  mine  bound  for  Duluth,  one 
of  the  iron-shipping  ports  at  the  western  end  of  Lake  Su- 
perior. We  might  go  to  Two  Harbors  or  to  the  town  of 
Superior  instead,  for  in  each  of  these  places  there  are  im- 
mense ore  docks,  stretching  out  perhaps  a  half  mile  into  the 
lakes ;  the  largest  iron-ore  docks  in  the  world  are  situated 
in  these  three  cities.  The  train  runs  out  on  these  docks, 
and  the  iron  falls  from  the  cars  into  huge  pockets  beneath. 
Only  a  few  minutes  are  required  for  the  unloading,  and 
the  train  is  soon  ready  to  start  back  to  the  mines.  In  the 
meantime,  on  the  large  boats  fastened  to  the  docks  shutes 
are  opened,  and  the  ore  slides  down  into  the  vessels.  In  less 
than  an  hour  six  thousand  tons  have  been  loaded  on  one 
vessel,  and  she  is  ready  to  start  on  her  voyage  of  nearly  a 
week  through  the  Lakes.  Between  the  iron  region  of  Lake 
Superior  and  the  coal  area  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
is  a  great  natural  waterway,  on  which  the  iron  can  be  carried 
much  more  cheaply  than  on  land.  This  chain  of  lakes  con- 
tains more  than  half  of  all  the  fresh  water  on  the  earth.  If 
the  lake  coast  line  which  borders  on  the  United  States 
could  be  stretched  out  straight,  it  would  reach  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco. 

Once  out  on  the  Lakes,  rightly  named  "  The  Great  Lakes," 
there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  we  are  not  on  the  wide 
ocean  itself,  for  part  of  the  time  we  can  see  no  land  on 
either  side.  We  find  indications  of  the  wheat  industry  in 
the  huge  grain  elevators  near  the  water  in  nearly  every 
city  at  which  we  stop.  We  see  curiously  built  boats,  called 


IRON 


173 


"  whalebacks,"  laden  with  wheat  and  flour.  Many  others 
are  seen  also,  with  cargoes  of  iron,  lumber,  or  beef.  The 
eastward  moving  boats  are  more  heavily  laden  than  those 
going  west,  and  as  we  study  the  different  industries,  we 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  64.   LOADING  A  SHIP,  Two  HARBORS,  MINNESOTA 

shall  find  the  reason  for  this.  Cargoes  are  often  taken  west 
at  very  cheap  rates,  rather  than  have  the  boats  return 
empty. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of  our  journey  is 
through  the  famous  "  Soo  "  Canal,  described  and  illustrated 
in  the  chapter  on  Waterways  and  Railroads.  It  is  a  thrilling 


174  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

experience  to  go  through  one  of  the  wonderful  locks  in  this 
canal,  and  to  feel  our  boat  gradually  sink  as  the  water  is  low- 
ered until  we  are  nearly  on  a  level  with  that  in  Lake  Huron. 

On  this  journey  we  pass  many  places  where  we  might 
dispose  of  our  cargo,  for  all  the  cities  on  the  southern 
shores  of  the  Lakes,  near  the  coal  fields,  are  engaged  in  the 
iron  and  steel  industry.  But  our  boat  glides  by  Detroit  and 
Toledo,  and  finally  stops  at  Cleveland.  Great  machines 
quickly  transfer  the  iron  from  the  vessel  to  the  cars  wait- 
ing to  carry  it  to  its  destination  at  Pittsburg. 

All  this  lake  region  has  changed  and  grown  very  rapidly 
in  the  past  few  years,  and  comparatively  few  people  realize 
the  immense  trade  and  vast  industries  which  are  carried  on 
in  this  part  of  the  country.  Here  in  the  Cleveland  district 
more  ships  are  built  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  except 
on  the  Clyde  River  in  Scotland ;  more  cargo  tonnage  passes 
through  the  Detroit  River  than  through  any  other  river  in 
the  world ;  the  machinery  for  moving  ore  on  these  great 
bodies  of  water  is  the  best  that  can  be  found  anywhere ; 
and  more  ore  is  moved  longer  distances  and  deposited  at 
the  receiving  ports  more  cheaply  than  in  any  other  country. 

Until  the  ore  is  laid  down  in  Pittsburg  at  the  door  of  the 
smelter,  you  notice  that  it  has  been  handled  entirely  by 
machinery,  and  it  will  continue  to  be  so  handled  until  it  is 
turned  out  in  the  finished  articles  of  iron  and  steel.  Little 
handwork  is  needed.  This  reduces  the  cost  materially  and 
is  one  of  the  reasons  why  we  are  able  to  manufacture  fine 
products  of  iron  and  steel  more  cheaply  than  any  other 
country. 

But  while  we  have  been  telling  of  the  wonders  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  of  their  industries  and  commerce,  our 


IRON  175 

iron  has  been  unloaded  at  Pittsburg,  and  we  must  now 
see  what  becomes  of  it. 

Pittsburg,  the  Iron  City !  Pittsburg,  the  Smoky  City ! 
Surely  both  of  these  names  are  appropriate,  for  as  we  ap- 
proach, we  see  dozens  and  dozens  of  tall  chimneys  pouring 
forth  their  clouds  of  smoke ;  and  iron  is  everywhere,  un- 
loaded at  the  docks,  carried  through  the  streets,  and  going 
through  all  sorts  of  processes  in  hundreds  of  manufactories. 
The  finished  products  are  being  shipped  away  in  trains  that 
go  in  all  directions,  and  in  boats  that  ply  on  the  Great  Lakes 
and  on  the  Ohio  River.  Pittsburg,  the  Steel  City!  More 
iron  and  steel  are  manufactured  here  than  in  any  other  city 
in  the  world,  and  it  is  for  these  manufactures  that  such 
great  quantities  of  raw  material  are  needed. 

Situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  Mononga- 
hela  rivers,  and  near  Lake  Erie,  Pittsburgh  water  connec- 
tions make  it  possible  for  the  manufacturing  supplies  to  be 
laid  down  at  her  doors  quickly  and  cheaply.  By  the  Mo- 
nongahela  River  she  has  access  to  the  rich  coal  fields  of 
West  Virginia,  and  the  Allegheny  River  brings  her  the 
coal  and  oil  from  western  Pennsylvania.  The  Ohio  affords 
entrance  to  thousands  of  miles  of  navigable  waters,  border- 
ing on  twenty  states,  and  finally  reaching  the  ocean  itself 
through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  From  the  Lake  Superior 
iron  mines  thousands  of  tons  of  ore  and  pig  iron  are 
brought  to  her  very  door  through  the  Great  Lake  route, 
and  it  is  to  aid  in  this  traffic  that  the  canal,  of  which  you 
read  in  Chapter  V,  has  been  planned. 

Great  as  is  the  trade  of  Pittsburg  by  water,  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  importance  of  her  railway  communication. 
Fourteen  railroads  enter  the  city,  and  by  these,  goods  are 


176  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

sent  east  and  west  and  north  and  south.  The  commerce  in 
iron  and  steel  in  which  Pittsbnrg  excels  the  whole  world 
would  not  be  possible  without  her  railroads. 

With  all  these  advantages,  is  it  any  wonder  that  no  other 
city  can  compare  with  her  in  iron  and  steel  manufacturing  ? 
Cars,  engines,  building  material,  armor  plate  for  ships,  cables, 
wires  for  telephone  and  telegraph  lines,  tools,  and  machin- 
ery of  all  kinds  are  manufactured  here.  The  work  is  so 
extensive  that  some  of  the  manufactories  run  night  and  day. 
At  one  steel  plant  five  tons  of  material  are  required  for  the 
blast  furnaces  every  minute,  and  there  are  hundreds  and 
hundreds  of  such  furnaces  in  the  city. 

Blast  furnaces  are  iron  structures  from  forty  to  one  hun- 
dred feet  high,  lined  with  a  material  called  "  fire  brick " 
because  it  can  endure  great  heat  without  injury.  In  these 
furnaces  the  iron  is  melted  to  separate  it  from  the  impurities 
with  which  it  is  always  found.  This  process  is  called  smelt- 
ing. Into  the  furnace  through  a  door  part  way  to  the  top 
the  workmen  put,  from  time  to  time,  coke,  ore,  and  limestone. 
Coke  is  used  instead  of  coal  because  it  gives  a  much  hotter 
fire.  The  limestone,  or  some  other  material  which  serves 
equally  well,  is  added  because  it  collects  the  impurities  as 
they  separate  from  the  melting  iron.  These  impurities  and 
the  limestone  together  form  an  upper  layer  known  as  slag, 
which  flows  out  through  a  door  in  the  furnace  made  for 
that  purpose. 

During  the  process  of  melting  the  iron,  a  blast  or  current 
of  air  is  forced  into  the  furnace.  You  know  when  you  open 
the  drafts  to  your  stove  how  much  more  brightly  the  fire 
burns,  and  you  can  imagine  what  a  high  temperature  is 
created  by  a  strong  current  of  air,  which  is  sometimes 


IRON  177 

intensely  heated  before  being  forced  into  the  furnace.  It  is 
from  this  method  of  using  blasts  that  the  blast  furnace  gets 
its  name. 

The  melted  iron,  on  account  of  its  weight,  falls  to  the 
bottom  of  the  furnace,  and  when  it  is  ready,  workmen  open 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  65.    BLAST  FURNACES,  PITTSBURG,  PENNSYLVANIA 

a  lower  door  and  with  long  poles  push  away  the  iron  which 
has  hardened  around  the  opening.  With  a  shower  of  sparks, 
like  a  display  of  Fourth-of-July  fireworks,  out  pours  the 
molten  iron  in  a  stream  of  liquid  fire.  Busy  workmen  by 
means  of  poles  direct  its  course  into  long  parallel  trenches, 


178 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


connected  with  many  shorter  ones  called  pigs.  Here  the 
iron  cools  in  round  bars  two  or  three  feet  long  and  three 
or  four  inches  in  diameter.  This  is  called  pig  iron  and  is 
the  foundation  of  all  our  iron  and  steel  manufactures.  In 


FIG.  i 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

LADLE  POURING  MOLTEN  IRON  INTO  FIG  IRON  MOLDS 


this  form  it  is  shipped  to  other  cities  engaged  in  similar 
industries. 

The  smelting  is  kept  up  in  the  large  smelting  works 
night  and  day ;  the  fire  in  the  blast  furnace  is  not  allowed 
to  go  out  until  the  furnace  needs  repairing  or  relining, 
which  sometimes  does  not  happen  for  months. 


IRON  179 

In  an  iron  foundry  the  pig  iron  is  melted  again.  The 
purer  metal  which  results  from  this  process  is  run  into 
molds  made  of  earth,  where  the  iron  takes  the  shape  of 
the  article  to  be  made,  much  as  jelly  takes  the  shape  of 
the  dish  in  which  it  cools.  This  cast  iron,  as  it  is  called, 
is  brittle  and  will  break  easily.  Articles  made  of  it  cannot 
be  easily  mended.  Stoves,  machinery,  tools,  posts,  hydrants, 
and  many  other  things  are  made  in  an  iron  foundry  from 
cast  iron. 

Wrought  iron  is  a  still  purer  product,  softer  and  easily 
mended,  out  of  which  nails  and  wire  are  made.  Many 
things  formerly  made  of  wrought  iron  are  now  made  of 
steel,  which  is  manufactured  to-day  much  more  easily 
and  cheaply  than  was  thought  possible  a  few  years  ago. 
The  making  of  steel  used  to  be  a  slow,  difficult  process.  In 
its  manufacture,  air  must  be  admitted  in  just  the  right 
quantity,  with  the  proper  force,  and  for  exactly  the  time 
that  will  cause  it  to  drive  away  the  undesirable  elements  in 
the  iron,  for  these  would  injure  the  quality  of  the  steel. 
Within  a  comparatively  few  years  an  Englishman  invented 
a  method  by  which  this  could  all  be  quickly  and  easily 
done.  The  Bessemer  process  has  revolutionized  the  indus- 
try. Work  which  before  this  invention  would  have  re- 
quired days  or  even  weeks  to  accomplish  can  now  be  done 
in  a  few  minutes. 

From  what  we  have  said  of  the  immense  quantity  of  iron 
taken  every  year  from  the  mines  of  our  country,  and  the 
great  usefulness  of  the  metal,  you  know  that  there  must  be 
many  cities  in  the  United  States  where  iron  manufacturing 
is  carried  on.  So  widespread  is  this  industry  that  there  are 
few  cities  of  any  size  which  have  no  manufactory  connected 


180  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  iron.  Pittsburg,  of  course,  ranks  first  in  the  list.  Then 
comes  Chicago,  for  it  is  situated  in  the  soft  coal  region  of 
Illinois  and  is  connected  by  water  with  the  famous  iron 
region  around  Lake  Superior.  Birmingham,  Alabama,  ranks 
third  in  iron  and  steel  manufactures,  for  this  city  lies  in  the 
center  of  the  rich  coal  and  iron  fields  of  the  South,  with 
limestone  deposits  near  at  hand.  These  are  our  three  great- 
est iron  manufacturing  cities,  but  there  are  many  others  in 
which  this  industry  is  of  great  importance. 

The  Ohio  River  is  filled  with  boats  and  barges  carrying 
thousands  and  thousands  of  tons  of  coal,  coke,  and  iron 
from  Pittsburg  to  the  river  ports.  These  distribute  the 
products  to  inland  cities  and  also  use  them  in  their  own 
manufactories.  Thus  Cincinnati  has  come  to  be  the  greatest 
market  in  the  United  States  for  pig  iron,  and  Louisville  is 
an  important  iron  manufacturing  city.  Both  of  these  cities 
owe  their  growth  and  importance  in  this  direction  to  their 
location  on  the  river. 

On  the  Great  Lakes,  Detroit,  Toledo,  Cleveland,  Erie, 
and  Buffalo  are  all  engaged  in  iron  manufacturing.  Cleve- 
land is  the  second  city  in  size  of  all  the  lake  ports.  As  it 
lies  near  the  iron,  coal,  and  oil  deposits  of  western  Penn- 
sylvania and  northern  Ohio,  near  the  copper  fields  of  Michi- 
gan, and  in  direct  water  connection  with  the  iron  mines  of 
Minnesota  and  Michigan,  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn,  that 
the  Cleveland  district  is  the  greatest  ore  market  in  the 
world.  Its  own  manufactures  of  iron  and  steel  are  immense, 
and  in  the  making  of  wire  and  nails  it  holds  first  rank  in 
our  country. 

The  cities  mentioned,  together  with  Baltimore,  Wheeling, 
New  York,  and  others  in  the  vicinity  of  the  coal  and  iron 


IRON  181 

areas,  manufacture  everything  one  can  possibly  think  of 
which  is  made  of  iron  and  steel.  Philadelphia  is  near 
enough  to  these  raw  materials  to  be  an  important  manufac- 
turing city,  while  its  position  as  an  ocean  port  makes  it  a 
commercial  center  as  well.  Many  vessels  sail  from  here 
every  year  carrying  the  manufactured  products  of  the  city 
as  well  as  those  from  other  cities. 

There  are  two  great  manufacturing  plants  in  Philadel- 
phia which  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to  visit.  One  of  these 
is  the  Cramp  Ship  Yard  where  the  finest  steel  ships  are 
made,  not  only  for  use  in  our  own  country  but  in  foreign 
lands  as  well.  The  other  great  manufactory  is  the  Baldwin 
Locomotive  Works,  a  corporation  which  makes  more  loco- 
motives than  any  other  in  the  world.  You  could  find  its 
engines  drawing  long  trains  in  Japan,  Africa,  South  Amer- . 
ica,  and  in  many  European  countries.  More  than  fifteen 
thousand  men  are  employed  there,  and  the  works  run  day 
and  night.  In  one  year  more  than  two  thousand  locomotives 
are  made,  an  average  of  more  than  six  each  day,  besides 
the  repairing  of  hundreds  of  others. 

After  all  that  we  have  said  concerning  the  wealth  of  our 
iron  and  coal  deposits,  and  their  position  with  regard  to 
each  other,  you  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  our 
country  ranks  higher  than  any  others  in  her  iron  and  steel 
manufactures.  Great  Britain  comes  next,  and  then  Ger- 
many, while  in  Norway  and  Sweden  iron  of  an  excellent 
quality  is  found. 

Germany  is  a  military  country.  It  has  forts  and  strong 
defenses.  Its  army  is  large  and  splendidly  trained.  So  it  is 
no  surprise  to  find  in  that  country  the  largest  and  most 
famous  gun  works  in  the  world.  Here  are  made  cannon 


182  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

and  guns,  material  for  ships  and  railroads,  as  well  as  ma- 
chinery of  various  kinds.  Austria-Hungary,  Russia,  Italy, 
and  other  European  countries  are  furnished  with  all  kinds 
of  defensive  supplies  from  these  famous  factories.  The 
industry  has  been  carried  on  by  the  Krupp  family  for  three 
generations,  and  all  have  shown  the  same  pride  in  their 
work,  the  same  honesty,  the  same  thoroughness  in  detail 
and  finish,  and  the  same  interest  in  their  employees. 

TOPICS  FOE,  STUDY 
I 

1.  Uses  of  iron. 

2.  History. 

3.  Amount  mined. 

4.  Iron  areas  in  the  United  States. 

5.  Methods  of  mining. 

6.  Trip  to  a  mine  in  the  Great  Lakes  region. 

7.  The  Mesabi  mines. 

8.  The  Great  Lakes  and  their  commerce. 

9.  Pittsburg. 

10.  Manufacturing  of  iron  and  steel. 

11.  Cities  connected  with  the. iron  industry. 

12.  Iron  in  other  countries. 

II 

1.  Name  all  manufactures  in  your  home  town,  or  in  neighboring 
towns  or  cities,  connected  with  the  iron  industry. 

2.  Notice  the  names  of  firms  or  of  cities  on  any  iron  article 
which  you  may  see. 

3.  Locate  fifteen  cities  connected  with  the  iron  industry. 

4.  Complete  the  following  sentences  : 

Pittsburg  is  the  - 


Two  great  manufacturing  plants  in  Philadelphia  are . 

Chicago  ranks in  iron  and  steel  manufactures. 

Birmingham  is  the city  in  the  South. 

Cleveland  is  the of  the  lake  ports. 

Germany  is  a country.    The manufactory  is  there. 


IRON 


183 


5.  Make  a  list  of  twenty  things  which  are  made  of  iron. 

6.  Sketch  a  map  of  the  Great  Lakes,  to  show  the  water  route  from 
Duluth  to  Buffalo.    Add  New  York,  to  show  the  route  via  Erie  Canal 
and  Hudson  River  to  New  York  City.    Add  Massachusetts,  to  show 
transportation  lines  from  Albany  to  Boston.    Add  Pennsylvania,  to 
show  trade  routes,  both  water  and  rail,  between  Lake  Erie  and  Pitts- 
burg.    Add  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  to  show  the  trade  route 
to  the  Gulf. 

7.  Write  at  least  six  facts  showing  the  importance  of  the  Great 
Lakes  route. 

8.  Write  at  least  six  facts  showing  advantages  of  the  location 
of  Pittsburg. 

9.  Name  at  least  twelve  different  things  manufactured  in  Pitts- 
burg. 

10.  Describe  methods  of  mining  in  the  Mesabi  mines. 

11.  Describe  the  manufacture  of  pig  iron,  cast  iron,  steel. 


Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  previous  chapters. 


Appalachian  Pligh  lands 
Adirondack  Mountains 
Pilot  Knob 
Iron  Mountain 
Mesabi  Range 

Suez  Canal 
Lake  route 

Great  Britain 

Norway 

Sweden 

Germany 

France 

Scotland 


Clyde  River 
Ohio  River 
Allegheny  River 
Monongahela  River 

Minnesota 

Michigan 

Wisconsin 

West  Virginia 

Pennsylvania 

Alabama 

Tennessee 

Missouri 

Illinois 

Ohio 

Kentucky 


Duluth 

Two  Harbors 

Philadelphia 

Superior 

Detroit 

Cleveland 

Erie 

Buffalo 

Pittsburg 

Chicago 

Birmingham 

Cincinnati 

Louisville 

Baltimore 

Wheeling 

New  York 


CHAPTER  XIII 

GOLD   AND  SILVER 

GOLD 

Gold  !  Gold  !  Gold  !  Gold  ! 
Bright  and  yellow,  hard  and  cold, 
Molten,  graven,  hammered,  and  rolled  ; 
Heavy  to  get  and  light  to  hold  ; 
Hoarded,  bartered,  bought,  and  sold, 
Stolen,  borrowed,  squandered,  doled  ; 
Spurned  by  the  young,  but  hugged  by  the  old 
To  the  very  verge  of  the  churchyard  mold  ; 

Gold  !  Gold  !  Gold  !  Gold  ! 

THOMAS  HOOD 

Probably  no  gift  of  the  earth  has  been  the  source  of  so 
much  happiness  and  misery,  so  great  joy  and  sorrow,  as  the 
yellow  metal,  gold.  Because  of  the  power  it  brings,  men 
have  fought  and  died  to  obtain  it ;  with  this  aim  in  view, 
no  sacrifice  has  been  too  great,  no  hardships  too  terrible, 
to  endure.  The  discoveries  of  gold  in  California,  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  later  in  Alaska  and  Canada  have  furnished 
stories  of  daring,  of  endurance,  of  perils,  fit  to  rank  with 
those  of  Sindbad  the  Sailor,  and  "Aladdin  or  The  Won- 
derful Lamp." 

The  most  thrilling  of  these  tales  are  connected  with  the 
Klondike,  for  here  Nature  presented  to  the  daring  explorers 
her  most  forbidding  aspect.  The  fight  was  not  against 
heat  and  thirst,  as  in  the  pioneer  journeys  to  California, 
but  against  cold,  snow,  and  starvation  in  this  lonely  arctic 

184 


GOLD  AND  SILVER 


185 


world,  where  in  the  silence,  the  gloom,  the  utter  isolation, 
it  seemed  to  the  lone  prospector  that  even  God  was  lost. 

To-day  we  can  ride  at  ease  in  comfortable  steamers  and 
railway  cars  to  the  very  region  and  over  the  very  trail 


\G     U    L    F 


0\F 


Li     L    A 


Long     170°   East     180°    West 


S    K  U 


A\N 


ALASKA 

SCALE  OF  MILES 
0  100        200       300 


FIG.  67.    ROUTE  TO  THE  KLONDIKE  REGION 

which  in  1897  and  1898  was  the  scene  of  terrible  suffering 
and  loss  of  life.  Crossing  the  country  to  Seattle,  Washing- 
ton, we  can  there  take  a  steamer  for  the  Alaskan  coast.  If 
we  follow  the  same  route  which  many  of  the  gold  hunters 
took  in  the  first  great  rush  to  the  Klondike,  we  shall  stop 


186  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

at  Skagway,  which  is  situated  upon  Dyea  Inlet,  about  twelve 
hundred  miles  from  Seattle.  Here  we  will  take  the  White 
Pass  and  Yukon  Railroad,  in  many  respects  the  most  won- 
derful one  in  the  world.  It  extends  nearer  the  pole  and 
cost  more  dollars  and  more  suffering  per  mile  than  any 
other  road  ever  built.  Men  of  almost  every  walk  in  life,  — 
college  graduates,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  other  professional 
men,  as  well  as  those  who  could  not  write  their  own  names, 
—  were  on  its  pay  rolls. 

In  its  construction  whole  mountain  sides  were  torn  away 
and  deep  gulches  were  filled.  Much  of  this  work  was  done 
when  the  thermometer  was  from  ten  to  forty  degrees  below 
zero.  Disappointed  gold  seekers  of  all  classes  in  life  found 
here  work  with  excellent  pay ;  yet  if  a  rumor  reached  them 
of  a  new  find  of  gold,  scores  would  shoulder  the  company's 
picks  and,  with  little  provision  for  facing  the  deadly  cold  or 
for  satisfying  their  hunger,  depart  for  the  place  where  the 
treasures  were  reported  to  have  been  found. 

The  first  few  miles  of  the  railroad  over  the  mountains 
through  White  Pass,  twenty-four  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  were  the  most  difficult  and  expensive  to  construct; 
some  sections  cost  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  per  mile.  But  no  railroad  ever  paid  any 
such  interest  on  the  investment  during  the  first  few  years 
of  its  existence  as  this  did.  It  was  the  one  way  over  which 
the  necessities  of  life  could  be  carried  to  hungry  miners,  or 
by  which  they  could  get  back  from  the  desolate  north  to 
friends  and  civilization.  Consequently  fares  were  very  high, 
sometimes  as  much  as  twenty  cents  a  mile.  Freight  charges 
were  in  proportion,  one  hundred  dollars  a  ton  not  being  an 
exceptional  price  at  the  time  of  the  greatest  rush. 


GOLD  AND  SILVER 


187 


Continuing  our  journey,  we  leave  Skagway  and  follow 
the  old  trail  over  the  dreaded  White  Pass  to  Lake  Bennett. 
This  takes  four  hours  by  rail,  but  for  the  gold  seekers  of 
the  nineties,  hampered  by  provisions  and  mining  equipment, 
it  was  a  four  days'  journey.  On  the  way  to  Lake  Bennett 
we  pass  through  Dead  Horse  Trail,  so  called  because  of  the 
hundreds  of  horses  which  fell  here  never  to  rise  again.  It 


FIG.  68.   PROSPECTORS  AND  THEIR  PACKS,  CHILKOOT  PASS 

is  said  that  after  the  great  rush  of  thousands  of  prospectors 
over  this  trail,  it  was  possible  for  one  to  travel  for  some 
distance,  treading  only  upon  the  hides  of  the  horses  which 
had  perished.  Before  the  railroad  could  be  built,  thousands 
of  the  carcasses  of  these  animals  had  to  be  removed. 

We  leave  the  railroad  at  White  Horse  Rapids,  where  many 
luckless  adventurers  lost  their  goods  and  often  their  lives 
by  the  swamping  of  the  heavily  laden  boats,  and  continue 


188 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


our  way  to  Dawson  by  steamer.  The  whole  trip  from  New 
York  to  Dawson  can  now  be  made  in  two  weeks,  a  small 
fraction  of  the  time  that  it  took  the  early  prospector  with 
his  pack  on  his  back,  or  with  his  loaded  sledge,  to  make  the 
trip  from  Skagway. 

The  word  "  Klondike  "  comes  from  the  Eskimo  language 
and  is  the  name  of  a  small  Canadian  stream  which  flows 


FIG.  69.    PACK  TRAIN  ON  THE  WAY  TO  THE  KLONDIKE 

from  the  north  into  the  Yukon  River  about  fifty  miles  east 
of  the  Alaskan  boundary.  Strangely  enough,  though  we 
hear  so  much  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Klondike,  but 
little  has  been  found  in  this  river  itself  or  on  its  banks. 
The  creeks  and  rivers  which  flow  into  it,  and  some  of  the 
other  branches  of  the  Yukon,  are  rich  in  the  precious  metal. 
It  is  found  scattered  through  the  sands  and  gravels,  and 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  189 

the  only  work  necessary  is  to  free  the  grains  of  nearly  pure 
gold  from  the  soil  in  which  they  are  held. 

No  great  companies  or  syndicates  opened  up  this  region 
by  operations  on  a  large  scale.  The  only  equipment  that  a 
miner  needed  was  a  pick,  a  pan,  and  a  strong  back.  All  of 
the  thousands  who  rushed  to  the  Klondike  in  the  two  years 
after  the  discovery  of  gold  began  operations  in  the  same 
way.  One  or  two  men  prospected,  that  is,  examined  the 
"  dirt "  where  no  one  had  made  a  claim,  until  they  found 
some  which  seemed  likely  to  pay.  If  two  were  working  to- 
gether, one  man  broke  the  soil  and  shoveled  it  into  the  pan  ; 
the  other  added  water  and  shook  the  pan  with  a  peculiar 
twisting  motion,  until  water  and  gravel  were  well  mixed. 
The  pans  were  then  carefully  emptied,  and  the  grains  of 
gold,  being  heavier,  were  found  at  the  bottom.  After  the 
best  claims,  where  gold  was  at  or  near  the  surface,  were 
taken  up,  the  less  favorable  ones  were  worked.  Sometimes 
the  gold-bearing  gravels  were  covered  for  two  or  three  feet 
or  more  with  moss  or  clay  or  other  soil,  which  had  to  be 
removed.  In  the  winter  this  was  frozen  so  hard  that  fires 
were  lighted  upon  the  ground  in  order  to  soften  it. 

In  the  richest  claims  gold  worth  hundreds  of  dollars 
was  washed  out  in  this  way  in  a  single  day.  But  in  most 
cases  it  was  slow,  hard  work ;  and  in  order  to  accomplish 
more,  the  pan  was  discarded  for  the  "  rocker."  This  was  an 
oblong-shaped  box  with  a  raised  screen  at  one  end,  on  to 
which  the  gravel  was  thrown.  The  larger  stones  were  held 
upon  the  screen,  while  the  finer  gravel,  with  which  the  gold 
was  mixed,  was  allowed  to  drop  through.  Water  was  added 
as  in  the  pan,  and  the  box  was  moved  back  and  forth,  or 
rocked,  as  its  name  indicates,  by  means  of  handles.  The 


190 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  191 

water  and  gravel  were  then  allowed  to  flow  out,  leaving 
the  gold  in  the  bottom  of  the  rocker,, 

The  "  Long  Tom,"  and  then  the  sluice,  were  the  next 
enlargements.  These  were  inclined  runways,  with  cleats 
called  riffles,  fastened  from  side  to  side  across  the  bottom, 
to  catch  the  gold.  The  gravel  and  water  were  turned  in  at 
the  upper  end,  and  the  trough  was  inclined  just  enough  to 
make  the  water  carry  the  gravel  down  and  out  at  the  lower 
end,  while  the  gold  was  caught  in  the  riffles.  Later,  because 
all  of  it  was  not  saved  by  this  method,  the  bottom  of  the 
sluice  was  paved  with  rock  or  copper  to  resemble  the  un- 
evenness  of  the  bottom  of  a  stream.  Mercury  also  was  used 
to  some  extent,  as  gold  will  stick  to  it,  and  thus  more  of 
the  shining  metal  was  saved. 

A  great  excitement  prevailed  when,  soon  after  the  dis- 
coveries in  the  Klondike  region,  gold  was  found  in  the 
sands  at  Cape  Nome.  The  easiest  route  from  Dawson  to 
Nome  is  by  way  of  the  Yukon  River  and  thence  across 
Norton  Sound.  The  sail  down  the  Yukon,  a  distance  of 
nearly  two  thousand  miles,  is  a  trip  to  be  remembered. 
Few  realize  that  away  in  this  comparatively  unknown 
country  flows  such  a  wonderful  stream,  the  fourth  largest 
river  in  North  America.  Imagine  sailing  on  one  river  from 
Boston  to  Denver,  for  the  distance  in  a  straight  line  be- 
tween these  two  cities  is  about  equal  to  the  navigable 
length  of  the  Yukon.  The  river  is  free  from  ice  only  three 
months  during  the  year,  and  at  the  present  time  nearly 
forty  steamers  sail  on  its  waters  during  the  open  season. 

Nome  is  the  largest  city  of  its  age  in  the  world.  Until 
1899,  when  gold  was  discovered  in  the  sand  on  the  beach, 
there  were  only  a  few  Eskimo  huts  in  the  place.  Before  a 


192 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


month  had  elapsed  after  the  discovery,  two  thousand  men 
were  digging  on  the  beach  and  were  taking  out,  on  the 
average,  more  than  thirty  thousand  dollars  per  day.  Before 
the  end  of  the  year  the  town  contained  between  five  thou- 
sand and  six  thousand  people  searching  for  gold  with  vary- 
ing results.  Some  "  struck  it  rich,"  making  thousands  of 
dollars  in  a  few  days,  while  many  others  suffered  miserably 


FIG.  71.  MINERS  AT  LUNCH  ON  THE  BEACH,  CAPE  NOME 

from  cold,  hunger,  and  disappointment.  Every  available 
steamer  from  Seattle  was  loaded  to  its  fullest  capacity,  and 
many  were  unable  to  find  passage  or  to  pay  the  exorbitant 
fare  charged  for  transportation. 

To-day  Nome  is  a  city  of  twelve  thousand  or  fifteen  thou- 
sand people.  It  is  equipped  with  telegraphs,  telephones, 
electric  lights,  hotels,  stores,  banks,  and  many  other  modern 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  193 

conveniences,  for,  swiftly  following  the  miner,  have  gone 
railroad  builders,  telegraph  linemen  and  operators,  capital- 
ists, surveyors,  bankers,  and  teachers.  The  city  will  even- 
tually become  the  terminus  of  railroads  which  will  bring  it 
into  close  touch  with  the  northwestern  United  States.  At 
the  present  time  the  water  trip  from  Seattle  takes  more 
than  a  week.  The  future  of  this  mushroom  city  depends 
almost  entirely  on  the  amount  of  gold  to  be  found  in  its 
vicinity.  Around  this  metal  centers  all  its  interests.  The 
supply  on  the  beach  is  nearly  exhausted,  and  miners  are 
going  farther  and  farther  inland.  Experts  tell  us  that 
plenty  of  gold  will  be  found  in  the  deeper  rock,  and  if  this 
prove  true,  the  future  of  Nome  is  assured. 

During  the  first  years  after  the  settlement  of  Dawson 
and  Nome,  life  in  these  places  was  extremely  primitive. 
The  houses  were  mere  shacks  of  rough  boards,  while  some 
of  the  less  fortunate  people  were  obliged  to  get  along  as 
best  they  could  in  tents.  The  sleeping  bag  lined  with  fur 
was  indispensable,  as  blankets  and  quilts  were  unknown 
luxuries.  Food  was  very  simple  and  required  little  prepa- 
ration. It  consisted  chiefly  of  canned  beans,  bacon,  and 
beef,  supplemented  by  coffee  without  cream  or  sugar. 

News  from  the  outside  world  was  slow  in  reaching  these 
northern  cities,  and  when,  in  the  course  of  a  month  or  six 
weeks,  the  mail  arrived,  a  great  holiday  was  held,  while  let- 
ters and  papers  from  home  were  read  over  and  over  again. 

But  you  are  wondering  what  all  these  miners  from  the 
Klondike  and  Nome  did  with  their  bags  and  boxes  of  pre- 
cious gold  dust. 

In  July,  1898,  the  United  States  government  established 
an  assay  office  in  Seattle.  You  have  noticed  in  reading 


194  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

these  pages  how  often  the  government  steps  in  and  helps 
any  new  enterprise.  In  an  assay  office  the  officials  receive 
the  metal,  determine  its  value,  give  the  depositor  a  receipt 
for  it,  or  its  value  in  money,  and  finally  send  it  in  the  form 
of  bars  to  the  mints  to  be  coined. 

When  the  assay  office  in  Seattle  was  opened,  its  doors 
were  besieged  all  day  by  miners  from  the  Klondike,  each 
with  his  bag  or  box  of  precious  dust  representing  months 
of  suffering  and  hard  labor  in  the  past  and  years  of  ease 
and  comfort  in  the  future.  In  three  months  more  than 
five  million  dollars  was  received  at  the  Seattle  office  from 
the  homeward  bound  miners ;  and  this  did  not  include  all 
of  the  gold  mined  in  the  Klondike,  for  some  was  still  stored 
in  the  North  and  some  was  taken  to  assay  offices  situated 
elsewhere. 

In  1867,  when  we  purchased  Alaska  from  Russia  for 
$7,200,000,  it  was  thought  to  be  a  bleak  Arctic  country, 
"  of  more  square  miles  than  square  meals,"  and  of  little  use 
except  for  the  fish  and  furs  which  it  might  yield.  The 
money  derived  from  these  have  paid  for  it  many  times  over, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  millions  of  dollars  yielded  by  the 
gold  discoveries.  And,  bleak  and  frigid  though  it  is,  it  is 
possible,  in  the  more  favored  portions,  to  raise  the  hardier 
grams  and  vegetables  twelve  hundred  miles  nearer  the 
north  pole  than  on  the  eastern  border  of  our  continent. 
With  its  great  wealth  of  fish  and  furs  and  its  rich  mineral 
deposits,  including  copper  and  coal  as  well  as  gold,  Alaska 
will  become  one  of  the  most  important  portions  of  our 
country. 

President  Roosevelt  said  of  it,  when  addressing  an  audi- 
ence at  Seattle,  Washington : 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  195 

The  men  of  my  age  who  are  in  this  great  audience  will  not  be  old 
men  before  they  see  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  populous  states  of 
the  Union  in  Alaska.  ...  I  predict  that  Alaska  within  the  next 
century  will  support  as  large  a  population  as  does  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula  of  Europe,  the  people  of  which  by  their  brains  and  ener- 
gies have  left  their  mark  on  the  face  of  Europe.  I  predict  that  you 
will  see  Alaska,  with  her  enormous  resources  of  mineral  wealth,  her 
fisheries,  and  her  possibilities  which  almost  exceed  belief,  produce  as 
hardy  and  vigorous  a  race  as  any  part  of  America. 

The  excitement  of  the  great  rush  to  the  Klondike  and  to 
Cape  Nome  in  1897  and  1898  brings  vividly  to  our  minds 
the  different  conditions  under  which  the  hardy  pioneers 
found  their  way  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  1849,  when  the  cry 
of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  was  raised.  The 
Klondike  prospector  suffered  from  cold  and  hunger,  and 
the  California  miner  from  heat  and  thirst  in  crossing  the 
then  unknown  deserts  of  the  West.  Death  Valley,  in  south- 
ern California,  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that  a  whole 
party  of  emigrants  perished  miserably  in  this  desolate  re- 
gion while  on  their  way  to  the  gold  fields.  Some  avoided 
the  dangers  of  desert,  and  mountains,  and  Indian  attack 
by  a  trip  across  the  isthmus,  or  by  a  long,  stormy  voyage 
around  Cape  Horn.  But  through  hardships  and  perils  the 
travelers  struggled  on,  cheered  by  the  news  of  lucky  finds 
and  by  songs  and  refrains  like  the  following,  which  were 
sung  by  the  enthusiastic  pioneers : 

Ho,  boys,  ho  !    To  California  go  ! 
There  's  plenty  of  gold,  so  we  are  told 
On  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento  ! 

The  fact  that  California  was  rich  in  gold  was  discovered 
quite  by  accident.  A  sawmill  had  been  built  on  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  upper  Sacramento,  and  the  water  in  the 


196  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

raceway  washed  loose  some  grains  of  yellow  metal  which 
proved  upon  examination  to  be  pure  gold.  When  the  news 
that  gold  had  been  found  in  California  reached  the  outside 
world,  more  excitement  was  aroused  than  at  any  previous 
discovery,  and  the  effects  were  in  proportion.  Two  and  one 
half  centuries  had  been  necessary  to  open  up  the  eastern 
half  of  our  country,  but  in  one  year  after  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  California  the  western  half  was  crossed  by  thou- 
sands. So  many  men  left  the  Eastern  states  that  wages 
became  higher  in  consequence,  immigration  from  Europe 
increased  rapidly,  prices  rose,  and  business  of  all  kinds  was 
stimulated.  Commerce  across  the  Pacific  soon  began,  and 
a  few  years  later  Commodore  Perry  opened  the  ports  of 
Japan  to  the  world.  The  development  of  California  and 
other  parts  of  the  West  brought  across  the  Pacific  large 
numbers  of  Chinese,  who  found  many  kinds  of  employment. 
They  worked  not  only  in  the  mines,  but  as  house  servants 
and  as  field  hands  on  the  farms  which  were  soon  cultivated  ; 
for  many  of  the  emigrants  found  that  more  wealth  was  to 
be  gained  from  the  fertile  soil  than  from  the  mines,  and 
large  numbers  who  came  intending  to  be  miners  remained 
as  farmers. 

The  pick,  the  pan,  the  rocker,  and  later  the  "  Long  Tom  " 
and  the  sluice  followed  each  other  in  quick  succession,  as 
half  a  century  later  in  Alaska  and  Canada.  To  all  of  the 
devices  by  which  gold  is  obtained  from  the  soil  by  the  use 
of  water,. the  name  "placer  mining"  is  given.  The  early  de- 
vices were  simple,  as  for  example  the  washing  of  the  gravel 
in  the  pan.  To-day  more  complicated  and  expensive  ma- 
chinery is  used,  and  the  industry  is  carried  on  on  a  larger 
scale  by  a  method  known  as  hydraulic  mining.  Sometimes 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  197 

gold  is  found  many  feet  under  ground  in  old  river  beds 
which  formerly  lay  upon  the  surface.  To  remove  the  over- 
lying earth  a  tremendous  force  of  water  is  needed.  By  the 
hydraulic  process  a  powerful  stream  is  directed  against  the 
bank  or  hill  which  overlies  the  gold.  This  washes  clown 
the  rock  and  soil  into  an  inclined  trough  or  sluice,  where 


FIG.  72.   PLACER  MINING,  IDAHO  CITY 

the  gravel  is  mixed  with  water.  The  sluices  are  paved  or 
furnished  with  riffles  to  catch  the  gold,  and  mercury  is  also 
used  in  large  quantities  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  force  with  which  the  water  used  in  this  hydraulic 
process  is  hurled  against  the  hillside  or  bank  is  something 
tremendous.  The  pipe  which  conveys  it  starts  from  a  higher 
level  and  grows  smaller  at  the  lower  end.  The  nozzle  of 


s 


198  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  pipe  is  oftentimes  nine  inches  in  diameter,  and  the 
water  escapes  from  this  smaller  opening  with  such  force 
that  a  man  struck  by  it  might  be  instantly  killed.  Some  one 
has  spoken  of  this  powerful  stream  as  "  an  elongated  con- 
tinuous cannon  ball.*'  Sometimes  the  water  has  to  be 
brought  in  flumes  or  canals  for  many  miles,  in  which  case 
capital  is  necessary  to  make  the  costly  preparation. 

The  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers  and  their 
branches  drain  the  gold-bearing  region  of  California,  and 
their  swift  currents  from  the  steep  slopes  of  the  Sierras 
have  furnished  much  of  the  water  needed  for  hydraulic 
mining.  Whole  rivers  have  been  diverted  from  their  bed:- 
in  order  to  work  the  gravel  which  underlies  them.  Where 
hydraulic  mining  has  been  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  fer- 
tile farm  lands  have  been  covered  with  sand  and  gravel. 
One  river  has  had  one  hundred  million  cubic  .yards  of 
gravel  washed  from  its  banks  into  its  bed,  raising  it 
seventy  feet;  in  this  river  valley  fifteen  .thousand  acres 
of  fertile  farm  lands  have  been  buried  under  loose  soil. 
Laws  have  finally  been  passed  in  the  state  to  protect 
more  effectually  the  property  of  the  farmers,  and  the  hy- 
draulic method  is  no  longer  used  on  so  large  a  scale. 

All  the  gold  mined  in  our  own  and  in  other  countries  is 
not  found  in  sand  and  gravel.  It  is  also  buried  hundivds 
and  even  thousands  of  feet  deep  in  the  hard  quartz  veins  in 
the  rock.  Some  of  the  gold  in  California  and  most  of  that 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  found  in  these  quartz  seams. 
Deep  mining,  or  quartz  mining  as  it  is  called,  is  much  more 
expensive  than  placer  mining,  for  large  sums  of  money  are 
necessary  to  get  into  the  depths  of  the  earth  where  the 
gold  is,  and  to  free  it  from  the  rock  after  it  is  mined.  A 


GOLD  AND  SILVER 


199 


shaft  is  sunk  and  at  its  foot  tunnels  are  laid  out,  which 
follow  the  veins  containing  the  gold,  much  the  same  as  in 
coal  mines.  Most  of  the  gold  mines  in  California  and  in 
other  states  are  now  of  this  kind. 

After  the  gold  is  taken  from  the  mine,  it  must  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  rock  —  a  much  harder  process  than  simply 
washing  it  free,  as  in  placer  mining.  The  ore  comes  to  the 
surface  in  lumps  of  gray  rock  varying  in  size  from  pieces 


FIG.  73.    GOLD  KING  MINE 

as  large  as  one's  fist  to  those  larger  than  a  peck  measure. 
The  larger  pieces  are  broken  by  machinery  into  smaller  bits 
before  being  run  between  crushers  which  grind  the  ore  to 
gravel.  This  is  pounded  into  a  fine  gray  powder  by  the 
stamps, —  great  bars  of  steel  which  fall  upon  the  crushed  ore 
with  terrific  force  and  a  tremendous  noise.  In  some  stamp 
mills  the  workmen  have  to  stuff  their  ears  with  cotton  to 
prevent  the  din  from  making  them  deaf.  In  the  smelter 
the  powdered  ore  goes  through  several  complicated  proc- 
esses, one  of  the  most  important  of  which  is  the  mixing 


200  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  mercury.  The  ore  is  carried  by  water  over  tables  cov- 
ered with  mercury.  This  collects  the  gold  and  allows  the 
sand  to  flow  on.  All  the  gold,  however,  is  not  saved  by 
this  process,  and,  in  order  to  make  the  separation  more  com- 
plete, the  refuse  is  usually  treated  with  chemicals  by  a 
method  known  as  the  cyanide  process.  The  pure  metal 
obtained  is  melted  and  run  into  molds,  and  in  this  form  it 
is  known  as  bullion. 

There  is  probably  much  mineral  wealth  in  the  Great 
Western  Highland  still  undiscovered  and  unworked,  al- 
though the  richest  deposits,  the  bonanzas,  the  El  Dorados,  by 
means  of  which  a  man  can  become  rich  in  a  night,  have  prob- 
ably all  been  found.  There  is  much  public  land  in  the  West 
which  belongs  to  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
Prospectors  are  always  hunting  in  these  areas,  not  only  for 
gold  but  for  silver  and  copper,  hoping  for  a  rich  find  which 
shall  belong  wholly  to  them  after  paying  the  small  sum 
which  the  government  demands  Avhen  any  one  "stakes  a 
claim." 

How  is  it  that  gold  is  found  on  or  near  the  surface  in 
the  loose  sands  or  gravels  of  the  river  beds,  and  also  is 
thousands  of  feet  deep  in  veins  of  quartz  ?  Originally  all 
the  gold  which  is  now  found  free,  that  is,  in  sand  or  gravel, 
was  deep  in  the  earth  in  veins  or  beds  in  the  hard  rock. 
But  by  upheaval  or  by  slow  wrinkling  of  the  earth's  crust, 
the  gold-bearing  strata  have  been  exposed  to  the  rains  and 
the  frosts,  the  brooks  and  the  rivers,  and  these  and  other 
agents  have  been  at  work  for  thousands  of  years  breaking 
up  and  wearing  away  the  solid  rock.  When  it  has  been 
worn  and  broken  into  sufficiently  small  pieces,  the  rivers 
have  been  the  carrying  agents,  sometimes  transporting  the 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  201 

rock  and  the  gold  which  it  contains  for  thousands  of  miles 
from  the  place  where  it  was  originally  deposited.  And  this 
is  why  all  placer  mining  is  carried  on  in  or  near  river  beds. 
Miners  soon  learned  to  look  in  the  deeper  rocks,  of  which 
the  river  gravel  is  the  wash,  for  the  source  of  the  golden 
sands. 

Our  own  country  is  not  the  only  one  in  which  gold  is 
deposited,  for  it  is  found  in  some  amount  in  every  country 
in  the  world.  Before  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Alaska,  Aus- 
tralia ranked  first  in  the  amount  mined,  and  that  country 
has  the  honor  of  producing  the  largest  gold  nugget  ever 
found.  It  weighed  several  hundred  pounds  and  was  of  suf- 
ficient value  to  make  its  possessor  a  rich  man,  for  it  was 
worth  many  hundred  thousand  dollars.  To-day,  however, 
the  United  States  stands  first  in  its  output  of  gold,  fol- 
lowed by  Australia,  while  next  in  importance  is  South 
Africa.  This  English  colony  owes  much  of  its  importance 
to  these  mines  and  to  its  diamond  fields.  Fourth  in  rank 
comes  our  northern  neighbor,  Canada,  raised  to  this  place 
by  the  deposits  of  the  Klondike  region.  The  Russian  Em- 
pire comes  next,  her  supply  of  gold,  like  her  other  mineral 
wealth,  coming  largely  from  her  Asiatic  possessions. 

All  together,  the  countries  of  the  world  produce  annually 
more  than  three  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  gold,  a 
sum  sufficient  to  pay  our  president's  salary  for  six  thousand 
years.  But  the  whole  great  sum  is  not  large  enough  to  pay 
for  all  the  wheat  or  the  corn  raised  in  our  country  in  a 
year ;  for  gold  and  silver  are  not  the  most  valuable  things 
in  the  world,  though  many  people  seem  to  think  so.  There 
is  little  value  in  gold  itself,  only  as  it  has  the  power  to 
purchase  necessary  or  desirable  things.  One  might  starve 


202  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  a  pocket  full  of  gold.  A  story  is  told  of  some  miners 
returning  from  the  gold  fields,  each  with  his  bag  of  yellow 
dust,  which  meant  freedom  from  work,  and  riches  for  the 
rest  of  his  days.  But  in  a  severe  storm,  as  the  vessel  was 
going  down,  each  miner  tore  his  bag  from  his  belt,  and  cast 
it  from  him,  knowing  that  gold,  which  is  almost  twenty 
times  heavier  than  water,  would  cause  him  to  sink  imme- 
diately. Of  all  on  board  no  one  was  drowned  except  an 
ignorant  servant  who  secreted  in  his  clothing  as  many  as 
possible  of  the  discarded  bags. 

Government  statistics  show  that  Colorado  holds  first  rank 
in  the  United  States  as  a  gold  producer,  her  annual  output 
amounting  to  nearly  thirty  million  dollars,  or  one  third  of 
all  that  mined  in  the  whole  United  States.  Cripple  Creek, 
Leadville,  and  Denver  owe  their  growth  largely  to  the  rich 
deposits  of  gold  and  silver  in  their  vicinity.  California  ranks 
second  to-day,  but  her  total  output  since  gold  was  first  dis- 
covered there  far  exceeds  that  of  any  other  state.  It  is  said 
that  the  amount  of  gold  mined  in  the  United  States  since 
the  discovery  up  to  1848  was  twelve  million  dollars.  In 
the  five  years  following  California  produced  more  than 
twenty  times  that  amount. 

Third  in  rank  comes  Alaska,  raised  to  that  place  by  the 
recent  discoveries  there.  Then  follow  South  Dakota,  Mon- 
tana, Arizona,  Utah,  Nevada,  Idaho,  and  Oregon.  Indeed 
there  is  no  state  in  all  our  Great  Western  Highland  where 
gold  is  not  mined  to  some  extent. 

Gold  and  silver  in  untold  riches  in  the  West,  and  coal 
and  iron  in  the  East.  Black,  dirty  coal  and  brown,  rusty 
iron !  They  seem  hardly  to  be  compared  with  the  glitter- 
ing gold  mid  shining  silver,  yet  their  value  in  practical 


GOLD  AND  SILVER 


203 


From  Stereograph.    Copyright,  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.Y. 

FIG.  74.   A  MINING  TOWN,  GEORGETOWN,  COLORADO 

uses  is  far  above  that  of  the  so-called  precious  metals. 
What  would  run  our  furnaces,  propel  our  engines,  warm 
our  houses,  furnish  locomotives  to  draw  the  cars  of  ore,  and 
machinery  for  the  gold  and  silver  mines  themselves,  were  it 
not  for  the  rich  deposits  of  coal  and  iron  scattered  through 


204  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  eastern  portion  of  our  country !  We  could  do  without 
gold  and  silver,  even  though  its  lack  might  inconvenience 
us,  much  more  easily  than  we  could  give  up  coal  and  iron. 

It  seems  queer,  with  all  the  mineral  wealth  buried  deep 
in  the  earth,  that  gold  is  the  only  yellow  metal.  Probably 
its  attractive  color  is  one  of  the  qualities  for  which  it  has 
always  been  valued  so  highly.  We  know  that  all  nations, 
ancient  and  modern,  have  usually  looked  upon  gold  as  valu- 
able and  desirable.  We  find  it  buried  with  Egyptian  kings, 
and,  though  four  thousand  years  have  passed  since  the  orna- 
ments found  in  the  tombs  were  worn  by  living  monarchs, 
the  gold  is  as  fresh  and  pure  as  if  taken  yesterday  from  a 
Klondike  stream  or  from  the  sands  of  Nome.  It  was  to  ob- 
tain the  gold  and  other  riches  of  India  that  Columbus  set 
out  upon  his  voyage  and  discovered  instead  a  new  world ! 

For  jewelry,  ornamentation,  statues,  even  for  medicine, 
gold  is  used,  for  it  yields  itself  readily  to  many  forms.  It 
is  soft  and  easily  hammered,  easily  drawn  out  into  thread 
or  worked  into  other  shapes.  The  hammering  of  gold  is  an 
interesting  process.  It  is  so  malleable  that  it  can  be  beaten 
into  sheets  so  thin  that  it  would  take  more  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  of  them  laid  one  upon  another  to  make  an 
inch  in  thickness.  It  is  then  several  hundred  times  thinner 
than  the  paper  upon  which  this  is  printed. 

But  the  chief  value  of  gold  is  as  a  medium  of  exchange, 
or  money,  and  in  this  way  it  has  been  used  from  earliest 
times.  Gold  is  so  soft  that  it  is  necessary,  in  the  manu- 
facture of  coins,  to  mix  it  with  some  harder  metal,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  more  durable.  The  other  metals  used  are 
called  alloys.  Silver  and  copper  are  used  in  the  making  of 
our  gold  coins,  nine  parts  pure  metal  to  one  part  alloy. 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  205 

Silver  alone  would  give  a  lighter  color,  so  copper  also  is 
used  to  preserve  the  tone. 

When  we  became  free  from  England,  we  did  not  wish  to 
use  her  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  but  preferred  to  have  a 
coinage  system  of  our  own,  and  soon  after  the  Revolution- 
ary War  we  began  supplying  our  own  money.  This  was 
made  in  the  mint  which  was  established  in  Philadelphia  and 
which  for  some  years  was  the  only  one  in  the  country. 
To-day  there  are  mints  in  three  other  cities, —  New  Orleans, 
Denver,  and  San  Francisco.  The  San  Francisco  mint  is  the 
largest  in  the  world. 

It  is  an  interesting  sight  to  see,  in  these  mints,  the  cru- 
cibles of  melted  gold,  and  then  the  long  yellow  ribbons 
into  which  it  is  rolled, —  ribbons  several  feet  in  length  but  of 
just  the  right  thickness  to  be  made  into  coin.  These  long 
rolls  are  cut  into  blank  coins  which  are  tested  to  see  if  they 
are  of  the  proper  weight.  This  is  done  in  a  room  where  a 
number  of  women  are  seated  at  long  tables,  each  with  a  file 
and  weighing  machine  before  her.  If  the  coin  proves  to  be 
too  light,  it  is  remelted ;  if  too  heavy,  it  is  filed  down  to 
the  required  weight.  The  gold  dust  which  accumulates 
from  this  and  other  processes  is  carefully  saved,  for  in  the 
course  of  a  year  it  amounts  to  hundreds  of  dollars. 

The  edges  of  the  coins  are  next  rolled  as  we  find  them, 
and  the  faces  are  stamped  with  the  proper  die,  after  which 
they  are  stored,  ready  for  use,  in  the  vaults  of  the  mint. 

SILVER 

Silver  is  usually  found  in  connection  with  the  other  min- 
erals. To-day  the  largest  part  of  the  world's  supply  conies 
from  mines  not  worked  for  silver  alone  —  although  there  are 


206  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

such  mines  —  but  from  those  in  which  gold,  copper,  or  lead 
is  the  most  important  mineral,  the  silver  being  only  a  by- 
product. The  largest  silver  producer  in  the  United  States 
at  present  is  probably  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company, 
which  owns  half  the  mines  in  Butte,  Montana. 

Silver  is  used  for  much  the  same  purposes  as  gold,  and 
is  subjected  to  similar  treatment  to  extract  it  from  the  ores. 
While  most  gold  is  found  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Si- 
erras, the  most  silver  is  found  on  the  eastern  side,  in  Nevada. 
The  output  of  this  state  has  been  largely  increased  by  the 
recent  discovery  of  rich  deposits.  The  center  of  the  silver 
district  is  around  Virginia  City,  six  thousand  feet  high  on 
the  slopes  of  the  mountains.  Rich  veins  are  found  also  in 
Colorado  near  Leadville.  One  might  say  that  Leadville  is 
a  city  built  on  silver,  for  the  silver-bearing  ore  is  not  only 
all  around  it  but  beneath  it  as  well. 

Although  there  may  be  more  silver  in  Nevada  than  in 
Colorado,  more  is  mined  in  the  latter  state.  One  reason 
for  this  is  that  in  Colorado  the  veins  containing  silver  run 
more  nearly  horizontal,  while  in  Nevada  they  tip  toward 
the  vertical  and  are  therefore  necessarily  deeper.  This 
makes  the  mining  not  only  more  expensive  but  more  diffi- 
cult, for  the  heat  is  so  great  in  the  lower  levels  of  the  mine 
that  it  is  very  hard  to  work  there,  and  some  rich  mines 
have  had  to  be  abandoned  on  this  account. 

You  have  probably  heard  of  the  Comstock  Lode  in  Ne- 
vada, at  one  time  the  richest  silver  mine  in  the  world.  It 
was  owned  by  a  man  called  "  Pancake  Comstock,"  because, 
before  his  wonderful  discovery,  when  he  was  only  a  poor 
prospector,  he  lived  chiefly  on  pancakes.  'Flic  Comstock 
Lode  was  one  of  the  first  to  make  Nevada  famous.  It 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  207 

yielded  two  parts  of  gold  to  three  parts  silver,  and  since 
its  discovery  more  than  three  hundred  fifty  million  dollars' 
worth  has  been  taken  out  of  it.  It  contains  one  hundred 
ninety  miles  of  shafts  and  galleries,  many  of  which  are 
not  worked  to-day  on  account  of  the  heat  or  the  thin 
veins  of  ore. 

Colorado  is  the  banner  state  in  the  production  of  silver 
as  well  as  of  gold,  mining  each  year  eight  million  dollars' 
worth.  Montana  rank*  second  and  Utah  third. 

Mexico  and  the  United  States  supply  the  most  of  the 
world's  silver,  each  producing  annually  about  thirty  million 
dollars'  worth.  Most  of  the  smelting  of  ore  for  Mexico,  and 
for  Canada  as  well,  is  done  in  the  United  States. 


TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 


1.  Introduction. 

2.  A  trip  to  the  Klondike. 

3.  Mining  in  the  Klondike. 

4.  Cape  Nome  gold  fields. 

5.  Seattle  assay  office. 

6.  Wealth  and  future  of  Alaska. 

7.  Gold  in  California. 

8.  Effects  of  the  discovery. 

9.  Hydraulic  mining. 

10.  Deep  or  quartz  mining. 

11.  Gold  in  other  countries. 

12.  Rank  of  different  states  in  the  United  States. 

13.  Comparisons  of  gold  and  silver,  and  coal  and  iron 

14.  History  of  gold, 

15.  Uses  of  gold, 

16.  Money. 

17.  Silver. 


208 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


II 

1.  On  a  map  of  North  America,  trace  a  route  from  Boston  to 
Dawson  City,  Canada.    Name  the  railroads  and  the  waters  on  which 
you  would  go.    Make  a  list  of  all  states  passed  through,  and  interest- 
ing or  important  cities  visited.    On  the  map  of  Alaska,  locate  all 
places  spoken  of  in  that  country. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  and  locate  the  five  largest  rivers  of  North 
America. 

3.  Why  can  grains  be  raised  in  Alaska  twelve  hundred  miles  nearer 
the  pole  than  on  the  east  coast  of  North  America?  (See  Chapter  IV.) 

4.  On  an  outline  map,  locate  all  cities  of  the  United  States  spoken 
of  in  this  chapter.    Color  the  gold-producing  states  yellow,  and  those 
yielding  silver,  gray. 

5.  Write  the  autobiography  of  a  gold  coin. 

6.  Find  in  your  textbook  what  fish  and  furs  are  found  in  Alaska. 

7.  In  connection  with  what  other  industry  have  you  read  of  South 
Africa? 

Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  previous  chapters. 


Dyea  Inlet 

White  Pass 

Lake  Bennett 

Cape  Nome 

Death  Valley 

Isthmus  of  Panama 

Cape  Horn 

Sierra  Nevada  Moun- 
tains 

Rocky  Mountains 

Appalachian  Moun- 
tains 

Australia 

Alaska 

Canada 

Russia 

Japan 

France 


South  Africa 

Siberia 

Egypt 

India 

Mexico 

Arizona 

Oregon 

Nevada 

Idaho 

Yukon  River 

Sacramento  River 

San  Joaquin  River 

Missouri  River 

Klondike  River 

California 

Colorado 

South  Dakota 

Montana 


Utah 

Washington 

Virginia 

Seattle 

Skagway 

Dawson 

New  York 

Nome 

Boston 

Salt  Lake  City 

Cripple  Creek 

Leadville 

Denver 

Philadelphia 

San  Francisco 

New  Orleans 

Virginia  City 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE   CATTLE   AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 

Would  you  like  to  visit  the  greatest  cattle  ranch  in  the 
world?  Then  let  us  go  to  Texas,  the  most  fitting  state 
because  of  its  size  to  contain  this  wonderful  ranch.  On  the 
great  plains  in  that  part  of  Texas  which,  from  its  shape,  is 
known  as  the  "Panhandle,"  three  or  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  we  shall  find  the  Farwell  Ranch.  It  is 
hard  to  imagine  a  farm  larger  than  a  whole  state,  but  this 
one,  with  an  area  of  five  thousand  square  miles,  is  larger 
than  Connecticut.  It  is  now  being  divided  into  smaller 
sections  and  sold,  but  originally  it  was  two  hundred  miles 
long  and  twenty-five  miles  wide,  shut  in  and  divided  by 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  wire  fencing,  enough  if 
stretched  out  in  a  straight  line  to  reach  halfway  across  the 
United  States. 

Two  towns  are  situated  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
ranch,  and  telephone  connections  from  .them  extend  to  its 
farthest  boundaries.  The  upper  wire  of  the  fence  serves  as 
a  telephone  wire.  This  is  raised  on  posts  at  the  gateways, 
so  that  teams  and  high  loads  can  pass  underneath.  The 
hundred  thousand  cattle  which  live  on  this  farm  are  cared 
for  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  cowboys.  This  seems  a  small 
number  to  look  after  so  many  cattle,  but  a  few  men  can 
care  for  a  large  number  of  animals. 

Think  how  many  cattle  we  must  raise  to  supply  enough 
beef  to  feed  the  eighty  million  inhabitants  of  the  United 

209 


210 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


States  and  to  export  more  than  all  other  countries  put 
together.  There  must  be  millions  of  cattle  raised  each  year, 
and  acres  upon  acres  of  grassy  plains  for  them  to  feed  on. 
The  United  States  leads  the  world  in  the  production  of  all 
live  stock  except  sheep.  This  could  not  be  true,  did  we  not 
have  our  fertile  farmlands  of  juicy  corn  and  our  great 
plains  of  nourishing  grass.  These  plains  lie  chiefly  east  of 


FIG.  75.   CATTLE  RANCH  ON  THE  CIMARRON 

the  Rocky  Mountains,  stretching  from  Texas  through  Da- 
kota and  into  Canada,  covering  an  area  of  more  than  four 
hundred  and  fifty  million  acres.  If  all  this  great  area  of 
land  upon  which  the  cattle  feed  were  to  be  divided  among 
the  people  of  the  whole  country,  each  man,  woman,  and 
child  would  have  a  farm  of  about  six  acres, —  quite  enough 
for  a  large  lawn  and  a  vegetable  garden,  with  land  still 
left  to  pasture  a  cow;  for  if  till  the  cattle  of  the  country 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY  211 

were  to  be  equally  distributed,  nearly  every  person  in  the 
United  States  might  own  one. 

On  the  Western  grazing  area,  as  you  know,  little  rain 
falls,  and  the  coarse  grass,  though  nourishing,  is  so  thin 
that  each  animal  requires  a  great  deal  of  land  in  order  to 
get  sufficient  food.  It  is  said  that  ranchmen  allow  twenty 
to  twenty-five  acres  to  each  animal,  if  it  is  to  find  its  food 
winter  and  summer  in  the  coarse  grass.  Twenty  acres  to 
each  animal !  Then  for  one  thousand  cattle  —  and  many 
ranches  have  more  than  this  number  —  a  ranch  owner 
would  need  the  use  of  twenty  thousand  acres.  Many 
towns  are  no  larger.  You  see  that  the  area,  the  number  of 
cattle,  everything  on  these  ranches,  is  on  a  large  scale. 

Formerly  nearly  all  of  this  vast  region  was  unf enced  and 
open  to  the  herds  to  wander  upon  at  will,  finding  their 
food,  winter  and  summer,  on  the  open  range.  Now  the 
public  land  is  becoming  less  each  year,  for  new  areas  are 
opened  to  settlement  as  irrigation  makes  it  possible  to  raise 
good  crops.  Much  land  has  been  worn  out,  that  is,  too1 
many  cattle  have  lived  upon  it,  and  have  nearly  destroyed 
the  grass  by  close  feeding  and  hard  trampling.  Many 
ranches,  particularly  in  the  southern  states,  are  now  in-, 
closed  by  fences,  which  shut  in  also  the  only  available 
water  supply  for  miles  around,  so  that  the  open  range 
which  is  left  is  practically  useless  except  to  the  one  who 
controls  the  water. 

In  the  open  country  the  cattle  feed  on  the  lower  plains 
during  the  winter,  but  as  the  hot  weather  comes  they 
wander  higher  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  where  they 
find  not  only  more  food  but  trees  to  shelter  them  from 
the  hot  sun.  When  the  cowboys  round  them  up  in  the  fall, 


212  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

they  are  found  many  miles  from  their  home  ranch.  In  the 
winter  they  can  wander  even  farther,  for  it  is  not  so  nec- 
essary for  them  to  remain  near  their  water  supply,  as  they 
can  quench  their  thirst  by  eating  snow,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  spring  round-up  they  are  sometimes  one  hundred  miles 
from  home. 

Twice  a  year  all  the  cattle  of  the  region  are  gathered 
together  in  one  place.  This  is  called  the  round-up.  It  is 
perhaps  the  hardest  as  well  as  the  most  interesting  work  of 
the  cowboy,  and  is  done  chiefly  for  two  reasons.  The  ani- 
mals suited  for  beef  must  be  separated  from  the  rest  and 
shipped  to  market.  This  is  usually  done  in  the  fall,  as  the 
cattle  are  in  better  condition  then  than  they  are  after  the 
long,  hard  winter.  In  the  spring  round-up  the  calves  are 
branded  with  the  owner's  name  or  mark.  This  is  the 
busiest  time  of  the  year  for  the  cowboys,  and  great  prep- 
aration is  made  for  it.  Wagons  furnished  with  camping 
outfit  and  provisions  are  driven  to  the  gathering  place. 
All  the  herders  of  the  region  unite  for  the  event,  for  where 
the  animals  roam  on  the  open,  unfenced  ranges,  and  wander 
many  miles  away  from  the  ranches,  the  cattle  of  many 
owners  are  mixed  in  the  various  herds. 

The  cowboys  are  awakened  in  the  morning  at  what  seems 
to  us  a  very  early  hour.  They  eat  their  breakfast  of  bacon, 
beans,  and  coffee,  feed  their  ponies,  and  by  four  o'clock  or 
a  little  later  are  in  the  saddle  ready  for  a  long,  hard  day's 
work.  They  divide  into  small  groups,  and  ride  away 
toward  all  points  of  the  compass  over  the  broad  plains, 
where  for  miles  no  cow  or  steer  can  be  seen.  When  they 
are  beyond  where  the  cattle  are  feeding,  they  begin  to 
drive  them  in  from  all  sides  toward  the  camping  ground. 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 


213 


As  the  herds  of  cattle  come  nearer  and  nearer  together, 
the  dust  is  raised  in  clouds.  The  bellowing  of  the  cows, 
the  shouts  of  the  cowboys,  and  the  racing  of  the  ponies 
make  a  scene  of  great  excitement. 

When  the  cattle  are  massed  together,  the  work  of  cutting 
out  the  calves  for  branding  begins.  For  this  work  the  cow- 
boys are  very  particular  which  ponies  they  choose.  Each 


Fie 


THE  ROUND-UP 


rider  has  brought  several  with  him,  and  the  intelligence  of 
the  horse  counts  for  almost  as  much  as  that  of  the  cowboy 
himself.  A  mother  and  an  unbranded  calf  are  selected  from 
the  midst  of  the  herd,  and  the  pony,  by  urging  and  pushing 
and  jostling,  drives  them  to  the  edge  of  the  herd  —  or  rather 
the  mother  is  driven  and  the  calf  follows.  When  they  reach 
the  open,  the  wild  dash  for  liberty  which  is  usually  made  by 


214 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


the  calf  is  suddenly  checked.  Seizing  just  the  right  mo- 
ment, the  cowboy,  with  a  skillful  hand,  throws  his  lasso 
around  the  hind  legs  of  the  animal.  The  knowing  horse 
braces  himself  for  the  shock,  and,  when  the  rope  tightens, 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  77.    BRANDING  THE  CALVES 
A  busy  day  on  the  Paloduro  Ranch,  Texas 

the  calf  is  suddenly  thrown  to  the  ground.  Irons  have 
been  heating  and  the  brander  presses  the  hot  iron  on  the 
side  or  flank  of  the  frightened  calf.  Of  course  the  branding 
is  painful,  but  it  takes  hardly  a  minute,  and  it  seems  to  be 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY  215 

the  only  way  by  which  the  cattle  can  be  marked  so  that 
each  owner  can  always  tell  his  own. 

Sometimes  cattle  are  marked  with  the  initials  of  the 
owner's  name.  Signs  that  cannot  be  easily  changed  are 
often  used  instead  of  initials.  Cattle  thieves  have  acquired 
large  herds  without  buying  them,  by  simply  changing  a 
brand.  For  instance,  a  man  whose  cattle  were  marked 
with  his  initials,  V.  O.,  began  to  find  that  his  herds  were 
decreasing  in  numbers.  A  dishonest  neighbor  had  added  a 
line  to  the  V,  and  with  the  extra  letter,  A,  had  changed  the 
brand  to  his  own  initials,  N.  O.  A.  A  circle  brand,  O,  could 
be  easily  changed,  as  you  see,  by  the  addition  of  straight 
lines,  ©,0.  Because  of  this  dishonesty,  the  brands  have 
become  more  complicated  than  they  were  originally,  as  the 
more  lines  they  contain  the  less  easily  they  can  be  changed. 
In  some  states  the  laws  concerning  brands  are  very  strict. 
In  Denver,  Colorado,  a  record  is  kept  of  all  those  used  in 
the  state.  No  one  can  be  like  another,  and  each  cattle 
owner  must  register  his  brand  as  soon  as  selected.  If  he 
purchases  cattle  already  marked,  he  must  add  his  brand 
to  that  which  the  cattle  already  bear. 

The  spring  round-up  sometimes  lasts  for  weeks.  After 
it  is  over,  the  cattle  of  the  different  ranches  are  driven  to 
their  summer  feeding  grounds  on  the  nearer  ranges.  As 
the  season  advances  and  the  dry,  hot  weather  comes,  they 
wander  farther  and  farther  for  food  and  water.  When  the 
time  comes  for  the  fall  round-up,  when  the  animals  fit  for 
market  are  selected,  the  herds  are  scattered  for  miles  over 
the  plains  and  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains. 

The  life  of  the  cowboys  is  monotonous  and  lonesome.  It 
is  a  healthful  one,  however,  as  most  of  the  time  is  spent  in 


216  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  open  air.  They  must  watch  stray  cattle,  look  out  for  the 
young  calves,  and  in  cold  winter  storms  drive  the  herd  to 
sheltered  places.  The  winter  work  is  hard  and  dangerous. 
They  spend  long  days  in  the  saddle  in  all  kinds  of  weather, 
exposed  to  severe  cold  and  terrible  blizzards,  when  they  are 
in  danger  of  losing  their  way  and  their  lives  as  well.  There 
are  many  enemies  of  the  cattle  which  the  cowboy  must  guard 
against.  Wolves  sometimes  attack  the  herd,  and  the  little 
prairie  dogs  often  cause  much  trouble.  They  destroy  the 
grass  over  large  areas,  and  so  prevent  the  cattle  from  find- 
ing food.  Their  holes  also  are  often  a  source  of  danger, 
for  cattle  sometimes  break  their  legs  in  them.  Rattlesnakes 
often  make  their  homes  there,  and  many  cattle  are  bitten  by 
them.  As  in  the  case  of  the  sheep,  there  are  poisonous 
grasses  on  which  cattle  may  feed,  and  the  cowboy  must  see 
that  they  avoid  the  places  where  these  grow.  There  are 
also  many  diseases  which  attack  the  cattle  and  which  must 
be  guarded  against. 

In  the  early  years  of  ranching,  the  cattle  suffered  much 
during  the  winter.  If  the  season  was  severe,  there  was 
great  loss  to  the  owners,  for  it  sometimes  happened  that 
one  half  of  the  stock  perished  from  cold  and  starvation. 
After  the  hard,  exhausting  winter,  the  cattle  which  sur- 
vived were  thin  and  poor,  and  unfit  for  market,  and  the 
loss  by  death  was  often  sufficient  to  eat  up  all  the  profits. 

To-day,  however,  there  are  few  ranches  where  provision 
is  not  made  for  winter  food.  Alfalfa  is  raised  and  stacked 
in  the  field  to  be  used  during  the  cold  months.  This  grass 
has  done  much  to  influence  farmers  to  settle  in  those  por- 
tions of  the  West  which  receive  little  rainfall.  There  is  no 
other  grass  fit  for  hay  which  can  be  grown  so  successfully 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 


217 


in  dry  regions.  Its  roots  are  very  long,  and  in  their  efforts 
to  find  moisture  often  reach  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  Alfalfa 
will  grow  almost  anywhere  from  sea  level  .to  heights  of 
several  thousand  feet.  It  does  not  exhaust  the  soil,  and 
more  than  double  an  ordinary  hay  crop  is  often  realized 
from  a  field  of  it.  Though  it  has  been  raised  in  our  country 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  78.    COWBOYS'  CAMP  ON  A  TEXAS  CATTLE  RANCH 

for  rather  less  than  half  a  century,  it  is  now  cultivated  in 
every  stock-raising  state. 

The  farmer  in  the  rich  corn  belt  has  a  great  advantage 
over  the  ranchman  in  the  more  arid  region,  for  the  farmer 
raises  the  corn  which  he  can  use  to  fatten  his  cattle  and 
hogs.  If  corn  is  high  and  meat  cheap,  it  is  sometimes 
more  profitable  for  him  to  sell  his  corn  and  let  his  cattle 
get  along  as  best  they  can  without  it,  or  wait  another  year 


218  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

before  fattening  them  for  market.  Great  numbers  of  cattle 
from  the  Southern  states  are  sent  north  to  be  fattened  on 
Kansas  corn,  though  many  Southern  farmers  are  to-day 
fattening  their  stock  on  cottonseed  meal. 

Because  of  the  difference  in  climate,  the  ranches  in  the 
northern  grazing  area  are  not  conducted  in  just  the  same 
way  as  those  in  the  southern.  The  winter  is  too  severe  in 
the  central  and  northern  areas  for  the  raising  of  young 
calves,  so  this  is  done  mostly  on  the  Southern  ranches. 
After  a  year  or  two  on  a  Southern  ranch,  the  steers  are 
sent  north  to  feed,  and,  being  strong  and  well  grown,  they 
get  through  the  hard  winter  in  good  condition. 

Herds  of  cattle  were  formerly  driven  on  foot  to  the 
northern  feeding  grounds  and  to  market,  but  they  are  now 
carried  by  rail.  Special  cattle  cars  are  used,  in  which  only 
a  limited  number  are  carried,  and  at  many  points  men 
inspect  the  cars  to  see  that  the  animals  are  transported 
in  a  humane  manner.  Short-horned  or  dehorned  animals 
are  taking  the  place  of  the  long-horned  variety,  which  was 
formerly  raised  on  the  ranches,  and  there  is  therefore  much 
less  danger  from  injury  on  the  long  trip  east.  Food  and 
water  must  be  supplied  regularly,  and  many  of  the  cars 
are  fitted  with  troughs  for  this  purpose.  If  the  journey  is 
a  very  long  one,  the  cattle  must  be  unloaded  on  the  way, 
and  the  exercise  thus  gained  rests  their  tired  muscles, 
which  have  stiffened  from  remaining  so  long  in  a  cramped 
position.  In  the  hot  season  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
trains  move  in  the  night.  This  makes  it  much  more  com- 
fortable for  the  living  freight,  and  at  the  same  time  pre- 
vents interference  with  passenger  traffic.  Many  hundreds 
of  these  cattle  trains  come  From  the  smaller  Western  towns, 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 


219 


and  deliver  their  tired,  stiffened,  bewildered  load  in  the 
stockyards  of  Kansas  City,  Omaha,  St.  Lonis,  St.  Joseph, 
Sioux  City,  and  at  Chicago. 

Do  you  suppose  cattle  ever  think  ?    If  so,  what  must  be 
their  thoughts  when  they  first  arrive  at  the  stockyards  in 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  79.    SHIPPING  BEEF  TO  THE  CHICAGO  MARKET,  MONTANA 

Chicago,  the  greatest  cattle  and  beef  center  of  the  whole 
world  ?  More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  cattle, 
sheep,  and  hogs  live  here  for  a  day,  and  then  are  changed 
into  beef,  mutton,  or  pork,  and  so  give  place  to  others, 
which  enjoy  the  comforts  of  the  animal  city  for  the  same 


220  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

brief  time.  The  streets  are  long  and  straight,  and  one 
might  wander  in  them  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles ;  the 
pens  on  either  side  are  well  built,  some  with  roofs,  some 
open,  and  all  provided  with  food  and  water  troughs.  Fifty 
miles  of  food  troughs  !  It  is  hard  to  believe,  but  it  is  really 
true. 

The  stockyards  are  honeycombed  with  railroads,  and 
every  twenty-four  hours,  chiefly  in  the  night  or  early  morn- 
ing, many  trains  roll  in,  to  -the  very  doors  of  the  pens,  and 
unload  their  thousands  of  living  freight.  During  the  day 
hundreds  of  trains  depart  for  the  East,  loaded  with  beef  or 
live  stock.  After  the  cattle  are  unloaded  in  the  stockyards, 
they  are  allowed  to  eat,  drink,  and  rest  a  few  hours.  Soon, 
however,  they  are  taken  from  their  pens  for  their  last  jour- 
ney. The  crack  of  the  whip,  the  cries  of  the  drovers,  the 
bellowing  of  cattle,  the  bleating  of  sheep,  the  squealing  of 
hogs,  the  buyers  and  sellers  rushing  excitedly  back  and 
forth,  make  up  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion.  After 
the  sale,  the  weighing  and  other  matters  are  attended  to, 
and  the  cattle  are  taken  in  charge  by  the  buyers,  and  are 
driven  off  to  the  various  slaughterhouses  in  the  yards.  By 
the  end  of  the  day  few  of  the  squealing,  bellowing,  bleat- 
ing crowd  are  left  to  welcome  newcomers  from  the  plains. 

The  slaughtering  of  the  animals  has  been  reduced  to  a 
science,  and  it  is  quickly  and  painlessly  done  at  a  rate 
which  seems  almost  beyond  belief.  Some  firms  slaughter 
four  thousand  cattle  a  day,  an  average  of  eight  or  more  a 
minute.  This  is  quicker  than  you  could  slice  steak  for  your 
dinner,  or  peel  the  potatoes  to  eat  with  it.  In  about  half  an 
hour  the  body  of  the  animal,  cleaned,  skinned,  and  ready 
for  quartering,  is  in  the  cold-storage  room,  where  it  remains 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY  221 

for  forty-eight  hours.  Then  the  quartering  is  done,  and  the 
fresh  beef  is  loaded  on  refrigerator  cars  ready  to  be  shipped 
to  various  parts  of  our  country  or  to  Europe. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  80.    BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  UNION  STOCKYARDS,  CHICAGO 

There  are  many  noted  packing  houses,  some  of  which  do 
business  on  an  immense  scale.  The  largest  ones  have  estab- 
lishments in  several  of  the  shipping  centers,  and  employ 
thousands  of  men  in  each  city.  One  company,  for  instance, 
employs  six  thousand  hands  in  Chicago  alone,  and  has 
plants  in  Omaha,  Kansas  City,  and  other  places.  The 


222  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

buildings  used  by  these  packing  firms  are  immense ;  those 
of  one  company  occupy  nearly  one  hundred  acres,  and  one 
could  tramp  several  miles  in  the  various  passages.  We 
wonder  sometimes  what  becomes  of  the  quantities  of  meat 
which  are  prepared  in  these  packing  houses  and  daily  sent 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  81.    COOLING  ROOM  IN  A  LARGE  CHICAGO  PACKING  HOUSE 

away  from  Chicago  and  other  great  packing  centers,  but 
you  must  remember  that  we  are  the  greatest  meat-eating 
people  in  the  world,  and  that  every  person  in  the  United 
States  consumes  on  the  average  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  a  year.  This  is  much  more  than  is  eaten  by  any 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY  223 

other  people,  some  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  for  instance, 
consuming  less  than  thirty  pounds  a  year  to  a  person.  More 
than  three  million  tons  of  beef  are  produced  annually  in  our 
country,  and  though  this  seems  an  immense  quantity,  yet  it 
is  only  one  third  of  all  the  beef  which  the  world  eats.  In 
the  Chicago  stockyards  alone  there  are  one  hundred  firms 
doing  business,  and  many  packing  companies  are  located  in 
other  great  cities. 

We  export  each  year,  chiefly  to  England,  France,  and 
Germany,  one  hundred  million  pounds  of  beef.  This  would 
be  enough  to  last  one  person  more  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand  years  if  he  ate  two  pounds  of  meat 
a  day.  It  would  be  sufficient  to  supply  all  the  people  of 
Chicago  with  one  pound  every  day  for  three  months. 

Great  quantities  of  beef  are  sent  away  in  other  forms 
than  these  large,  fresh  quarters,  for  there  are  canned  meats 
of  various  kinds,  corned  beef,  beef  extracts,  and  the  mince- 
meat which  is  sold  in  large  quantities  for  mince  pies. 

The  making  of  beef  extract  is  an  interesting  process,  and 
much  care  is  exercised  to  have  it  pure  and  wholesome. 
Many  women  are  employed  in  this  department  of  the  pack- 
ing houses,  sealing  cans  and  putting  on  labels  and  wrappers. 
They  work  very  rapidly,  and  their  fingers  must  fly  indeed, 
for  one  girl  is  able  to  label  and  wrap  nearly  three  thousand 
cans  a  day.  The  large  establishments  have  their  own  plants 
for  making  cans,  labels,  and  much  of  the  other  material 
necessary  in  their  work. 

After  the  meat  is  disposed  of,  the  rest  of  the  body  of  the 
animal  is  used  for  many  purposes.  Indeed  we  may  truth- 
fully say  that  to-day  nothing  is  wasted.  Some  one  has  said 
that  after  passing  through  the  packing  establishment 


224  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

nothing  is  left  of  the  pig  but  his  squeal.  And  after  seeing 
the  many  things  which  are  made  from  the  different  parts  of 
the  bodies  of  the  cattle,  one  would  certainly  think  that 
nothing  could  be  left  but  the  bellow.  Butterine  and  oleo- 
margarine are  made  from  the  fat ;  buttons  from  the  bones 
and  blood ;  combs  from  the  horns  and  hoofs ;  glue  from 
the  sinews,  bones,  and  hide  trimmings;  and  other  useful 
articles  from  the  parts  of  the  animal  which  were  formerly 
thought  of  no  use.  Twelve  million  pounds  of  glue  were 
turned  out  in  "  Packingtown  "  in  one  year,  besides  vast 
quantities  of  other  manufactures. 

Leather  is  made  from  the  hides  and  is  used  chiefly  in 
the  making  of  boots  and  shoes,  an  industry  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  United  States.  Cowhide  is  used  chiefly  for 
the  soles  of  shoes  and  for  the  making  of  patent  leather. 
The  largest  tanneries  are  in  Milwaukee,  though  some  are 
found  in  many  other  cities  and  towns.  Not  all  the  skins 
used  in  this  country  are  native.  We  import  many  goat- 
skins from  South  America  and  India,  and  colt-  and  calf- 
skins from  Russia.  But  our  great  cattle  and  sheep  ranches 
have  made  it  possible  for  the  United  States  to  lead  in  shoe 
manufacture.  We  make  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
million  dollars'  worth  of  boots  and  shoes  each  year,  Massa- 
chusetts contributing  nearly  one  half  of  this  amount. 
Brockton  is  the  largest  shoe-manufacturing  city  in  the 
world,  followed  by  Lynn,  which  in  former  years  held  first 
place.  Recently  the  largest  shoe  factory  in  existence  has 
been  erected  in  Lynn,  the  output  of  which  is  estimated  at 
fifty  thousand  pairs  a  day.  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  are  very  important  "shoe  cities." 

A  great  cattle  industry  is  carried  on  in  South  America 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY        225 

on  the  plains  through  which  the  La  Plata  River  and  its 
branches  flow.  Here  is  America's  great  future  rival.  Here 
we  might  ride  for  hundreds  of  miles  and  see  only  herds  of 
cattle,  immense  flocks  of  sheep,  and  droves  of  wild  horses. 
The  horses  are  valued  chiefly  for  their  hides  and  hair,  and 
it  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  hide  is  as  valuable  with- 
out the  animal  inside  as  with  it. 

The  duties  of  the  gaucho,  as  the  cowboy  is  called  in 
South  America,  are  much  the  same  as  in  the  United  States, 
for  the  round-up  and  branding  are  carried  on  in  a  similar 
manner.  The  climate  is  somewhat  warmer  than  in  our 
great  West,  and  all  through  the  year  the  cattle  find  plenty 
of  food  on  the  Pampas,  so  that  no  special  food  provision 
for  the  winter  needs  to  be  made. 

After  the  marketable  steers  are  "  cut  out "  at  the  round- 
up, they  are  sent  to  Buenos  Aires,  the  largest  city  in  South 
America,  where  they  are  prepared  for  market  in  much  the 
same  way  as  they  are  in  Chicago  or  in  any  great  packing 
center  in  the  United  States.  Before  1880,  cattle  were 
valued  chiefly  for  the  hides  and  tallow,  but  now  great 
quantities  of  beef  are  sent  from  Buenos  Aires  to  England, 
France,  and  Germany.  By  tracing  the  voyage  on  the  map 
you  will  see  what  a  long,  hot  trip  it  must  be,  for  the  vessel 
must  cross  the  equatorial  regions  on  its  journey  north. 
But  the  meat  is  frozen  and  packed  in  refrigerator  ships, 
and  so  reaches  Europe  in  good  condition. 

You  have  probably  tasted  some  extract  of  beef,  or  have 
seen  different  brands  advertised  in  papers  and  magazines. 
The  great  works  where  one  variety  is  prepared  are  situated 
in  a  town  called  Fray  Bentos,  in  Uruguay.  If  you  look  on 
a  map  of  South  America,  you  will  find  this  town  near  the 


226  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

La  Plata  River,  and  therefore  in  the  great  cattle  region,  for 
the  Pampas  include  much  of  Uruguay,  as  well  as  Argentina 
and  Paraguay.  In  this  establishment,  or  saladero,  as  slaugh- 
tering houses  are  called  in  the  musical  Spanish  language,  six 
thousand  men  are  employed,  and  a  thousand  animals  are 
killed  every  day. 

Some  of  the  European  countries  produce  more  beef  than 
Argentina,  but  they  contain  so  many  people  that  it  is  all 
consumed  at  home,  and  more  has  to  be  imported.  On  ac- 
count of  her  scanty  population,  Argentina  is  able  to  export 
more  beef  than  any  other  country  except  the  United  States. 

We  have  not  yet  spoken  of  the  dairy  products,  —  the 
milk,  butter,  and  cheese, —  for  dairying  is  carried  on 
chiefly  in  a  different  section  of  the  United  States,  and  in 
a  very  different  manner,  from  the  cattle  industry  in  the 
West. 

Most  of  the  dairy  farms  are  farther  east  than  the  cattle 
ranches.  The  best  land  for  them  is  in  the  fertile  region 
near  the  Mississippi  River,  toward  the  northern  part  of  the 
United  States.  From  here  the  dairying  area  stretches  east- 
ward through  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio, 
through  the  three  northern  Middle  Atlantic  States,  and 
through  New  England,  Vermont  being  especially  noted  for 
her  product.  In  recent  years  the  industry  has  made  a  great 
advance  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  in  the  Dakotas,  Kan- 
sas, Missouri,  and  in  the  Pacific  States.  Perhaps  you  have 
never  thought  of  dairying  as  an  important  occupation,  but 
you  may  think  differently  when  you  know  that  our  dairy 
products  are  worth  more  than  our  wheat  crop. 

In  every  state  of  our  country  some  cattle  are  raised  for 
dairy  products,  but  nowhere  else  to  the  same  extent,  as  in 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 


227 


the  areas  named.  In  the  Mississippi  Valley  quantities  of 
corn  and  alfalfa  are  grown,  arid  make  excellent  food  for 
cows  which  give  rich  milk  and  yellow  butter.  Those  which 
wander  on  the  great  plains  of  the  West  can  thrive  on  the 
coarse  brown  grass,  but  their  milk  is  thin  and  blue,  and  the 
butter  made  from  it  is  of  a  poor  quality.  The  cattle  which 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  82.    MILKING  Cows,  BRIARCLIFF  FARMS,  NEAR 
NEW  YORK  CITY 

make  the  best  beef  are  not  those  which  produce  the  most 
or  the  richest  milk.  Shorthorns,  Heref ords,  and  several 
other  breeds  are  well  suited  for  the  production  of  beef, 
while  for  dairy  purposes  the  gentle  Jersey,  the  black  and 
white  Holstein,  the  belted  Dutch,  and  the  red  and  white 
Ayrshire  are  in  greatest  favor. 


228 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


As  you  ate  your  breakfast  this  morning,  did  you  think 
how  many  million  pounds  of  butter  must  be  made  in  order 
that  every  boy  and  girl  may  be  able  to  eat  it  on  bread? 
We  make  annually  nearly  one  billion  five  hundred  million 
pounds.  This  is  enough  to  give  every  inhabitant  of  the 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  83.    CHURNING  BUTTER  WITH  OLD-FASHIONED  DASHER  CHURN 
EAST  AURORA,  NEW  YORK 

United  States  nearly  twenty  pounds  a  year,  and  most  of  it 
is  really  eaten  in  this  country,  for  we  cannot  spare  much  to 
be  exported. 

Have  you  seen  pictures  of  an  old-fashioned  New  England 
kitchen,  where  the  housewife  is  standing  beside  the  churn 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY 


229 


moving  the  handle  up  and  down  to  "make  the  butter 
come  "  ?  At  the  present  time,  most  of  our  butter  is  made 
in  large  creameries,  though  in  some  towns  you  may  still 
find  the  old-fashioned  churning  by  hand  carried  on. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  84.    THE  GREAT  CHURN  WHICH  CHURNS  EIGHT  HUNDRED 
POUNDS  OF  BUTTER  AT  A  TIME,  EAST  AURORA,  NEW  YORK 

A  creamery  receives  great  quantities  of  milk,  which  is 
poured  into  a  machine  called  a  separator.  This  is  made  to 
revolve  at  a  high  rate  of  speed,  and  the  cream,  being  lighter 
than  the  milk,  comes  to  the  top  and  flows  out  through  a 
tube,  while  the  skimmed  milk  comes  out  through  another 


230 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


tube  below.  The  cream  is  churned  so  as  to  collect  the  fat 
globules  of  which  the  butter  is  composed.  This  solid  por- 
tion is  then  kneaded,  either  by  hand  or  by  machinery,  to  re- 
move all  the  liquid  possible.  It  is  then  salted  and  packed. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  85.    THE  SEPARATOR  AT  WORK.    BRIARCLJ^F  FARMS,  NEAR 
NEW  YORK  CITY 

There  are  more  than  three  thousand  cheese  factories  in 
the  United  States,  which  every  year  manufacture  more  than 
three  hundred  million  pounds  of  cheese.  A  small  amount  is 
made  by  hand  on  the  farms,  but  nearly  all  our  product 
is  made  by  machinery  in  the  factories.  Cheese  is  the  curd 


CATTLE  AND  BEEF  INDUSTRY  231 

which  forms  when  milk  sours.  In  the  factories  the  souring 
is  hastened  by  the  addition  of  rennet.  The  whey  or  liquid 
portion  is  drawn  off,  and  the  curd  is  cooked,  drained,  salted, 
and  pressed.  It  is  then  cured  in  a  cool  ro'om.  The  process 
called  ripening  takes  place  in  the  curing  room,  determining 
the  particular  flavor  of  the  cheese. 

Though  we  produce  annually  enough  cheese  to  give 
about  four  pounds  to  each  person  in  the  United  States,  we 
import  from  Switzerland  and  other  European  countries 
several  million  pounds  more.  Our  country  is  not  yet  so 
famous  for  dairy  products  as  Holland,  Switzerland,  and 
Denmark.  Their  butter  and  particularly  their  cheese  are 
considered  much  better  than  ours.  Denmark  exports  more 
butter  than  any  other  country  in  the  world. 

Milk  is  such  a  nourishing  food  that  we  find  it  used  in 
many  countries,  though  it  is  not  always  obtained  from  the 
same  kind  of  animal.  The  Laplander  has  his  reindeer,  the 
Arab  his  camel,  the  people  of  India  their  buffaloes,  and 
mountain  peoples  their  different  varieties  of  sheep  and  goats. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 

I 

1.  Journey  to  Texas. 

2.  Description  of  the  Farwell  Ranch. 

3.  Area  of  cattle  ranching. 
•    4.  The  round-up. 

5.  Branding. 

6.  Ranch  life. 

7.  Shipping  to  market. 

8.  The  packing  houses. 

9.  Cattle  products. 

10.  The  industry  in  other  countries. 

11.  Dairying. 


232  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

II 

1.  Reread  Chapter  IV  and  tell  the  cause  of  the  lack  of  rain  in  the 
grazing  area. 

2.  Color  a  map  showing  arid,  semi-arid,  and  humid  areas. 

3.  Color  a  map  showing  the  grazing  area.    Make  a  list  of  all  states 
wholly  or  partly  included  in  this  area.    Locate  cities  connected  with 
the  cattle  industry.    Find  the  railroads  over  which  cattle  are  shipped 
to  these  cities  from  the  ranches.    Name  the  railroads  by  which  beef 
is  distributed. 

4.  Describe  a  route  from  Chicago  to  London.    From  Buenos  Aires 
to  London.    Of  what  other  products,  besides  meat,  have  you  read 
which  might  be  shipped  over  these  routes? 

5.  Make  a  collection  of  labels  from  canned-meat  preparations. 
Learn  the  names  of  some  of  the  important  packing  companies  and 
the  cities  where  the  meat  was  prepared. 

6.  In  an  outline  or  hectographed  map,  locate  the  "  shoe  cities." 
Trace  the  railroads  by  which  the  raw  material  may  be  taken  to  Mil- 
waukee for  tanning,  and  thence  carried  to  cities  for  manufacturing 
into  shoes. 

7.  In  connection  with  what  industries  has  South  America  been 
mentioned  in  this  book  ?   In  what  two  industries  may  Argentina  rival 
us  in  the  future  ?   Trace  a  route  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Liverpool. 

Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.    Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  previous  chapters. 

Texas  England  New  York 

Dakota  France  Denver 

Colorado  Germany  Austin 

Kansas  Holland  Kansas  City 

Iowa  Switzerland  Omaha 

Wisconsin  Lapland  St.  Louis 

Minnesota  Arabia  St.  Joseph 

Illinois  India  Sioux  City 

Nebraska  Argentina  Buenos  Aires 

Ohio  The  Pampas 

New  York  Paraguay  Mississippi  River 

New  England  Uruguay  La  Plata  River 

Canada  Chicago 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY 

Have  you  ever  thought,  as  you  put  on  your  heavy  winter 
coat,  or  pulled  the  warm  blankets  around  you,  of  the  animal 
that  yields  the  wool  of  which  they  are  made,  or  of  the  work 
which  is  necessary  to  change  the  wool  into  cloth  ?  Great 
quantities  of  fiber  are  needed  for  cloth,  blankets,  carpets, 
and  other  articles,  and  millions  of  sheep  must  be  raised  to 
furnish  it,  for  one  animal  yields  only  from  five  to  ten 
pounds  at  a  shearing. 

It  has  taken  many  years  of  careful  tending,  feeding,  and 
breeding  to  change  the  thin,  coarse-haired  sheep  which 
roamed  over  the  mountains  of  central  Asia  into  the  heavy, 
long-wooled  sheep  of  to-day.  The  wild  sheep  of  Asia  were 
covered  with  short,  fine  wool  which  kept  them  warm,  and 
also  with  a  growth  of  long,  coarse  hair  which  served  for  a 
raincoat. 

Sheep  were  domesticated  in  very  early  times,  for  we  read 
in  the  Bible  that  story,  with  its  tragic  ending,  which  tells  of 
Joseph  being  sent  on  the  long  journey  to  his  brethren  as 
they  tended  their  flocks  at  Shechem.  On  this  lonely  walk 
he  wore  his  "  coat  of  many  colors,"  which  was  probably 
made  of  wool,  for  this  material  was  used  by  ancient  peoples 
long  before  cotton  was  known,  or  before  the  flax  fiber  was 
spun  into  linen. 

As  civilization  spread,  these  Asiatic  sheep  were  intro- 
duced into  the  Mediterranean  countries.  On  the  high,  dry 

233 


234  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

plateaus  of  Spain  they  fared  well,  and  with  care  and  breed- 
ing gradually  developed  into  the  famous  Merino  sheep, 
which  produce  the  finest  wool  for  manufacturing  purposes. 

The  early  explorers  brought  with  them  to  America  the 
animals  which  had  been  useful  to  them  in  their  European 
homes,  and  the  sheep,  which  gave  them  food  and  clothing, 
would  not  of  course  be  left  behind.  From  the  animals 
which  Columbus  on  his  second  voyage  brought  to  America 
the  first  great  flocks  of  the  Southwest  were  probably  de- 
scended. The  English  settlers  also  brought  sheep  with 
them  from  the  farms  at  home,  that  they  might  not  lack 
warm,  serviceable  garments  in  their  hard  pioneer  life. 

Many  of  the  sheep  raised  in  the  early  colonial  days  lived 
a  comfortable  life,  for  they  were  tended  and  petted  by  the 
quaint  little  Puritan  children.  The  sheep  on  the  ranches  of 
our  great  Western  plains,  and  those  on  the  smaller  farms 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  live  a  very  different  life.  On 
these  farms  at  least  a  thousand  are  usually  kept,  while  on 
the  great  ranches  farther  west  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find 
from  twenty-five  to  fifty  thousand  owned  by  one  man. 
Can  you  imagine  what  a  sight  this  must  be,  to  see  all  these 
thousands  of  sheep  crowded  together  into  one  flock  ? 

On  a  great  sheep  ranch  it  is  customary  to  divide  the 
animals  into  flocks  of  one  or  two.  thousand  or  even  more, 
and  to  send  them  off  to  feed  under  the  care  of  a  herder. 
One  man  with  a  dog,  without  which  a  sheep  herder  is  of 
little  value,  can  easily  care  for  two  thousand  or  more.  If 
he  is  on  horseback,  the  number  may  be  increased  to  five 
or  six  thousand.  The  herder  makes  his  camp  near  some 
stream  of  water  or  a  lake,  or  sometimes  by  a  well.  Here  he 
stays  at  night  with  his  flock.  During  the  day  he  drives 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY 


235 


them  off  on  the  plains  to  feed.  When  the  grass  is  all  eaten 
in  that  vicinity,  he  moves  his  camp  to  some  other  place 
where  water  may  be  found. 

In  the  summer  the  herder  and  the  flock  wander  higher  and 
higher  on  the  mountains,  but  with  the  approach  of  autumn 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  86.  SHEEP  GRAZING  ON  THE  PLAINS 

they  come  down  to  the  plains  again.  During  the  winter  they 
stay  near  the  ranch,  where  in  many  cases  a  rough  shelter  for 
the  animals  and  some  food,  usually  alfalfa,  are  furnished.  " 
In  the  early  days  of  ranching,  when  no  provision  was 
made  for  the  long,  cold  winter,  vast  numbers  of  sheep 


236 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


perished,  and  the  only  return  the  owner  realized  from  them 
was  from  the  sale  of  the  skins.  To-day  it  is  considered 
more  economical,  as  well  as  more  kind,  to  see  that  they  do 
not  suffer  so  much  during  the  cold  weather. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  87.    THE  LONE  MONTANA  SHEPHERD  AND  HIS  BEST  FRIEND 

If  the  herders  are  to  take  the  sheep  many  miles  away,  and 
stay  for  a  long  time,  a  camp  wagon  is  sometimes  provided. 
This  is  built  with  a  high  canvas  top  and  is  packed  full  of 
things  by  the  use  of  which  the  herder  can  make  himself 
comfortable.  There  is  a  stove  in  one  end  where  he  can 
cook  his  food,  which  consists  largely  of  canned  goods, 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY      237 

varied  occasionally  by  a  tender  lamb  from  his  flock.  There 
is  also  a  folding  shelf  wJiich  can  be  let  down  and  used  for  a 
bed,  and  in  this  narrow  bunk,  warmly  wrapped  in  his  blankets, 
a  herder  can  lie  safely  through  a  severe  storm,  for  the  wagon 
is  so  wide  that  even  the  strongest  winds  do  not  tip  it  over. 

The  herder's  hardest  work  comes  in  the  spring,  when  the 
lambs  are  born,  for  they  are  feeble  and  need  much  care. 
A  severe  storm  coming  at  this  time  is  very  unfortunate, 
for  the  little  lambs,  cold,  wet,  and  helpless,  die  by  hun- 
dreds. Some  ranches  provide  a  "  lambing  van."  This  is  a 
large  wagon  which  is  driven  from  herd  to  herd,  gathering 
up  the  lambs  and  taking  them  to  the  ranch,  where  they  are 
cared  for  and  given  food  and  shelter. 

The  herder  has  many  other  duties  beside  those  of  which 
we  have  spoken.  A  sheep  or  a  lamb  makes  a  dainty  meal  for 
the  mountain  lion  or  the  wolf,  and  such  intruders  must  be 
guarded  against,  especially  at  night.  The  coyote,  or  prairie 
wolf,  is  both  wise  and  sly,  and  knows  well  that  he  must 
keep  out  of  reach  of  the  herder's  rifle  and  out  of  sight  of 
the  dog.  But  if  a  single  sheep  wanders  off  by  itself,  it  is 
pretty  sure  to  become  the  prey  of  the  coyote.  At  night  on 
the  lonely  plain,  his  howling  cry  is  often  heard  in  the  still 
air,  and  bonfires,  lanterns,  flags,  rockets,  and  other  means 
are  used  -to  keep  him  away  from  the  sheep. 

Another  duty  of  the  herder  is  to  keep  a  close  watch  for 
poisonous  grasses,  and,  if  these  are  found,  to  drive  the  sheep 
to  some  other  feeding  ground.  Certain  diseases  also  must 
be  guarded  against,  and  an  eye  kept  on  the  water  supply, 
which  must  be  unfailing. 

Rattlesnakes  kill  many  sheep,  particularly  just  after 
shearing.  When  the  heavy  wool  is  011,  the  poison  rarely 


238 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


penetrates  the  skin.  There  is  perhaps  more  danger  from 
these  reptiles  to  the  herder  himself  than  to  his  flock.  If 
bitten  while  off  on  the  range,  far  from  any  habitation,  he 
may  die  from  ibhe  effects  of  the  poison  before  help  can  be 
obtained. 

Either  the  shepherd  dog  or  the  herder  must  keep  careful 
watch  of  the  sheep  at  night,  for  they  are  nervous,  timid 


FIG.  88.    COYOTES 

animals,  and  a  sudden  noise  may  cause  a  stampede.  In  that 
case  the  coyotes  of  the  vicinity  are  sure  of  a  good  breakfast 
of  fresh  lamb  or  mutton. 

For  days  at  a  time  the  herder  is  alone,  and  sees  and  hears 
no  one  but  his  dog  and  the  sheep.  He  receives  good  pay, 
however,  and  unless  this  money  is  spent  in  drink  and  gam- 
bling on  his  infrequent  visits  to  town,  he  can  soon  save 
enough  to  start  a  farm  of  his  own.  His  dog  is  the  shepherd's 
most  faithful  friend.  He  tends  the  flock,  rounds  them  up 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY  239 

when  straying,  watches  them  at  night,  and  guards  against 
the  fierce  mountain  lion  which  would  attack  them.  With- 
out the  shepherd  dog  it  would  be  impossible  to  carry  on 
sheep  raising  on  the  large  scale  that  is  common  in  the  West. 
These  dogs  are  often  finely  trained  by  their  masters,  and 
obey  not  only  their  voices  and  spoken  directions,  but  in 
some  cases  even  signals  given  by  the  hands  or  arms. 

The  large  sheep  ranches  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
are  on  the  great  plains  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
in  the  valleys  between  the  ranges,  in  much  the  same  area  as 
the  cattle-grazing  grounds.  Many  sheep  are  also  raised  on 
the  smaller  farms  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Ohio  ranks 
second  as  a  wool-producing  state.  Montana  is  first,  for  more 
than  six  million  sheep  are  raised  within  her  boundaries. 
Six  million  sheep  !  An  immense  number.  If  they  could  be 
gathered  into  one  great  flock  and  made  to  pass  in  front  of 
you,  one  by  one,  while  you  counted  steadily  day  after  day 
at  the  rate  of  one  sheep  per  second,  from  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  six  at  night,  you  would  not  finish  counting  all 
the  sheep  in  Montana  for  nearly  five  months. 

More  than  fifty  million  sheep  and  lambs  are  raised  in  our 
whole  country,  and  they  must  all  be  cared  for  and  herded, 
for  they  do  not  wander  at  will  on  the  great  plains  as  the 
cattle  are  sometimes  allowed  to  do.  Formerly  the  sheep 
grazed  over  many  miles  of  public  land  and  found  plenty  of 
food,  but  as  these  lands  are  being  taken  up  by  settlers  or 
leased  to  cattlemen,  the  movements  of  the  flock  are  more 
restricted.  They  are  often  fed  on  the  home  ranch,  though 
their  life  is  still  spent  partly  on  the  open  range. 

There  has  been  much  conflict  and  hard  feeling  between 
the  cattle  and  sheep  owners,  for  cattle  will  not  feed  well  on 


240  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

land  occupied  by  sheep.  Sheep  eat  the  grass  very  close  to 
the  roots,  so  that  other  animals  cannot  find  sufficient  nour- 
ishment there.  They  also  leave  a  peculiar  odor  which  cattle 
do  not  like.  The  trampling  of  the  ground  by  their  hard 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  89.  "  BAA  !  BAA  !  BAA  !  "  THREE  THOUSAND  SHEEP  ASTRAY 
ON  A  MOUNTAIN  RANGE 

hoofs  and  the  close  cropping  of  the  grass  prevent  it  from 
growing  again  for  a  long  time.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore, 
that  the  cattlemen  have  fought  hard  and  long  to  keep  sheep 
off  the  ranges  formerly  devoted  to  cattle  only. 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY  241 

Men  have  learned  that  there  is  great  profit  in  sheep  rais- 
ing, for  the  animal  not  only  gives  his  owner  several  coats 
of  wool,  but  yields  him  an  additional  income  from  the 
carcass  which  is  finally  sold  as  mutton.  So  the  sheep 
owner  has  encroached  more  and  more  upon  the  area  for- 
merly devoted  to  cattle,  until  to-day  vast  stretches  of  land 
are  occupied  by  flocks  of  sheep  where  formerly  cattle  roamed. 

In  the  chapter  on  the  cattle  industry,  you  remember,  it 
was  stated  that  the  same  kinds  of  animals  are  not  raised  for 
beef  as  for  dairy  purposes,  for  the  flesh  of  a  cow  which 
gives  rich  milk  does  not  make  the  best  meat.  A  similar 
thing  is  true  in  regard  to  sheep.  Those  that  yield  the  most 
or  the  finest  wool  are  not  those  which,  when  slaughtered, 
make  the  best  mutton.  The  Merino  sheep  has  the  finest 
wool  in  the  world,  while  the  Southdowns,  which  yield 
wool  of  an  inferior  grade,  are  the  best  for  food.  Sheep 
owners  are  trying  to  breed  an  animal  equally  valuable  for 
mutton  and  for  wool,  and  both  are  being  constantly  im- 
proved by  their  efforts. 

The  shearing  was  done  formerly  on  the  ranch,  but  now 
the  sheep  are  often  driven  to  some  other  place  near  the 
railroad  station,  as  it  is  thought  cheaper  to  drive  the  sheep 
than  to  pay  for  moving  the  wool.  Except  in  some  of  the 
more  southerly  states,  sheep  are  usually  sheared  but  once 
a  year,  in  late  spring  or  early  summer.  June  is  considered 
the  best  month,  as  the  wool  is  then  in  good  condition,  and 
there  is  less  danger  of  the  animal  taking  cold  after  losing 
his  warm,  heavy  coat,  though  much  care  has  to  be  exercised 
to  prevent  this. 

From  the  windows  of  the  car  in  which  I  was  traveling 
through  the  West,  there  could  be  seen,  over  the  plain, 


242  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

skeletons  of  thousands  of  sheep.  They  had  perished  in  a 
long,  cold  rainstorm  which  had  unfortunately  come  just 
after  they  had  been  sheared. 

Shearing  used  to  be  done  by  hand,  with  peculiar  shears 
made  for  the  purpose.  It  was  slow,  hard  work,  though  not 
painful  to  the  animal,  for  a  sheep  was  very  seldom  cut  by 
a  skillful  shearer.  But  hand  work  in  almost  any  industry 
is  considered  too  slow  for  these  busy  times,  and  machines 
are  fast  taking  the  place  of  fingers.  So  in  the  sheep  in- 
dustry a  machine  has  been  invented  to  do  the  shearing. 
The  shears  are  fastened  to  a  rod  which  is  moved  by  power. 
The  sheep  come  in,  one  by  one,  through  a  narrow  alley,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  the  poor,  bewildered  animal  is  released, 
shorn  of  his  woolly  coat,  which  lies  heaped  in  a  pile  on  the 
ground. 

Before  going  off  to  feed  again  on  the  range,  the  sheep 
are  made  to  swim  through  a  trough  containing  a  cleansing, 
wholesome  bath.  It  is  not  very  agreeable,  but  is  necessary 
to  check  or  cure  certain  skin  diseases  to  which  they  are 
subject.  Though  the  bath  is  sometimes  taken  at  other 
times  of  the  year,  it  does  more  good  if  given  just  after  shear- 
ing for  then  the  liquid  can  more  easily  penetrate  the  skin. 

The  wool  is  packed  into  bags  or  bales  holding  from 
three  hundred  to  one  thousand  pounds  apiece.  Much  of 
this  is  sent  to  the  East  for  manufacturing.  More  than  half 
of  all  the  woolen  cloth  made  in  the  United  States  is  woven 
in  New  England.  Consequently  great  quantities  of  wool 
are  sent  to  Boston  for  distribution.  Boston  ranks  next  to 
London  as  a  wool  market. 

From  what  you  have  studied  about  cotton  manufacturing 
you  can  easily  select  some  of  the  cities  where  wool  is  made 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY 


243 


into  cloth.  Lawrence  and  Lowell  in  Massachusetts,  Provi- 
dence in  Rhode  Island,  Manchester  in  New  Hampshire,  and 
New  York  City  are  all  especially  noted,  but  Philadelphia 
leads  them  all. 

Most  of  the  wool  produced  in  the  United  States  is  of  a 
medium  grade.    We  import  some  of  excellent  quality,  from 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  90.    SHEEP  PENS,  MONTANA 

which  we  manufacture   our  finest  cloths,  and  also  much 
which  is  coarse  and  heavy,  to  use  in.  making  carpets. 

Between  three  and  four  hundred  million  dollars'  worth 
of  woolen  cloth  is  made  in  the  United  States  every  year, 
and  although  this  se^ms  a  tremendous  amount,  yet  England 
manufactures  a  still  greater  quantity.  We  do  not  compete 


244  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  other  countries  in  the  manufacture  of  very  fine  cloth, 
but  our  heavier  goods,  flannels  and  blankets,  are  unsur- 
passed. Ours  is  the  greatest  carpet-manufacturing  country 
in  the  world,  making  a  greater  quantity  and  a  larger  vari- 
ety than  any  other  nation.  The  carpets  made  by  hand  in 
some  of  the  Eastern  countries,  Turkey,  Persia,  or  India,  are 
more  beautiful  in  color  and  texture  than  anything  that  can 
be  made  by  machinery.  But  next  to  the  Oriental  rugs  come 
those  of  American  manufacture.  Philadelphia,  and  Yonkers, 
New  York,  are  particularly  interested  in-  this  branch  of 
manufacture. 

Many  different  kinds  of  goods  are  made  in  the  great 
woolen  mills.  Chief  among  them  is  cloth  for  men's  suits 
and  ladies'  coats  and  dresses.  Think  of  all  the  different 
kinds  of  woolen  cloth  which  are  made  up  into  such  wearing 
apparel,  and  you  will  have  some  idea  of  the  great  variety 
which  is  manufactured.  Then  there  are  the  carpet  mills, 
the  yarn  mills,  and  those  which  make  all  kinds  of  felting 
for  floor  and  table  coverings,  linings,  hats,  and  many  other 
purposes. 

In  the  making  of  felt,  the  wool  is  wet  and  heated  in 
order  to  mat  it  closely  together.  Great  quantities  of  it 
were  formerly  used  for  felt  hats,  but  of  late  years  this  use 
of  wool  has  declined,  because  the  finer  felt  hats  of  to-day 
are  made  of  the  fur  of  the  rabbit,  raccoon,  and  other  animals. 

When  the  fiber  arrives  at  the  factory,  it  is  packed  as  it 
came  from  the  sheep,  good,  medium,  and  poor  wool  all 
mixed  in  the  same  bale.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
pick  it  over  and  sort  it,  putting  the  different  qualities  in 
different  piles.  Then,  as  it  is  all  very  dirty,  it  is  washed 
<>r  scoured,  as  this  process  is  called  in  the  mill.  So  much 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY  245 

dirt  and  foreign  matter  are  mixed  with  the  wool  that  when 
it  has  passed  through  the  various  cleansing  solutions  it  has 
lost  about  one  half  of  its  weight. 

After  drying  upon  frames  of  wire  netting,  it  is  carded  by 
a  machine  which  lays  the  fibers  straight  and  even.  Passing 
through  other  processes,  it  is  soon  ready  for  spinning.  Won- 
derful machines  twist  the  fiber  into  long  threads,  which  are 
then  twisted  with  other  threads,  until  the  .desired  number 
and  strength  are  obtained.  It  is  interesting  to  unravel  a 
piece  of  yarn  and  find  the  fibers  of  which  it  is  composed. 

After  spinning,  the  yarn  or  thread  is  wound  on  huge 
spools  and  on  bobbins,  or  done  up  in  large  skeins.  In  these 
forms  it  is  shipped  to  the  woolen  and  worsted  mills.  There 
it  is  dyed  and  made  ready  for  weaving,  which  is  similar  to 
the  weaving  of  cotton. 

After  the  cloth  is  woven  come  the  washing,  the  steam- 
ing, the  shrinking,  the  pressing,  the  measuring,  the  folding, 
and  finally  the  packing  in  neat  papers  such  as  you  see  in 
the  stores.  The  cloth  is  ready  to  start  on  its  journey  to  the 
wholesale  dealer,  then  to  the  retail  dealer,  and  then  perhaps 
to  your  mother,  who  goes  to  the  store  to  purchase  a  suit  of 
clothes  or  material  for  a  winter  dress. 

Our  great  woolen  mills  need  so  much  material  that  we 
use  not  only  all  of  the  three  hundred  million  pounds 
obtained  from  sheep  raised  in  the  United  States,  but  we 
have  to  import  half  as  much  more  from  other  countries. 
Australia,  Argentina,  and  China  all  send  us  wool,  which 
we  get  largely  by  way  of  London,  for  that  city,  you 
remember,  is  the  largest  wool  market  in  the  world- 

Have  you  any  idea  how  many  yards  of  cloth  can  be 
manufactured  from  such  a  great  quantity  of  wool  ?  If  we 


246  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

estimate  half  a  pound  of  wool  to  a  square  yard  of  cloth, 
we  shall  have  a  heavier  material  than  most  of  us  wear; 
some  of  the  boys'  clothes  would  take  more,  and  most  of  the 
girls'  dresses  less,  so  perhaps  half  a  pound  is  a  fair  estimate. 
Then  of  our  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  pounds  of  wool, 
were  it  all  manufactured  into  cloth  of  this  weight,  we  could 
make  nine  hundred  million  yards.  How  many  miles  of 
cloth  does  this  equal  ?  You  will  hardly  believe  it  when  I 
tell  you  that  it  is  enough  to  extend  more  than  twenty 
times  around  the  earth. 

There  are  other  products  besides  wool,  which  come  from 
the  sheep.  To  learn  about  these  we  must  leave  the  factories, 
interesting  though  they  are,  and  visit  the  Chicago  stock- 
yards, or  those  of  some  other  packing  center. 

The  flesh  of  the  sheep  is  worth  about  one  half  as  much 
as  the  wool.  The  animals  are  usually  sold  for  slaughtering 
in  the  summer  after  shearing  is  over.  They  have  borne  for 
their  owner  four  or  five  coats  of  wool,  and  now  their  flesh 
will  become  mutton,  their  bones  be  made  into  fertilizer, 
the  tallow  into  candles,  and  the  skins  of  the  intestines  into 
cases  for  sausages,  or  strings  for  musical  instruments.  We 
have  not  mentioned  a  very  important  part  of  the  sheep,  the 
skin.  This  is  made  into  leather  and  used  principally  in  the 
manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes,  in  which  the  United  States 
holds  first  rank.  The  largest  sheepskin  tanneries  in  the 
world  are  situated  in  Peabody,  Massachusetts. 

When  we  talk  about  the  great  industries  in  our  own 
country,  we  are  apt  to  think  that  they  are  carried  on  to  a 
greater  extent  here  than  anywhere,  else.  This  is  sometimes 
true,  but  not  so  in  the  case  of  sheep  raising,  for  more  are 
raised  in  the  far-away  island  of  Australia  than  in  any  other 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY  247 

place  in  the  world.  Some  of  the  finest  wool  comes  from  the 
sheep  which  graze  on  the  dry  plateau  lands  of  the  Island 
Continent.  The  climate  is  very  healthful  there,  and  the 
winters  are  so  mild  that  the  animals  find  plenty  of  nourish- 
ing food  on  the  open  plain  all  the  year  round.  All  these 
things  combine  to  give  New  South  Wales,  which  is  the 
division  of  Australia  most  noted  for  sheep  raising,  first 
rank  as  a  wool  exporter. 

The  greatest  enemy  of  the  sheep  owner  in  Australia  is 
the  rabbit.  It  seems  queer  to  call  such  a  harmless  little 
animal  an  enemy  of  anything.  But  there  are  millions  of 
them  there,  and  they  eat  all  the  grass  in  large  areas  of  the 
country,  so  that  the  poor  sheep  find  little  food.  Sheep 
owners  have  built  miles  of  fence  to  keep  the  rabbits  out 
of  their  grazing  lands. 

Other  islands  near  Australia  are  also  engaged  in  sheep 
raising.  In  New  Zealand  it  is  the  chief  industry,  and  one 
third  as  many  sheep  are  raised  in  that  one  island  as  in  our 
own  country,  though  it  is  only  one  thirtieth  its  size 

Millions  of  sheep  also  roam  with  the  horses  and  cattle  on 
the  grassy  plains  of  Argentina,  where  they  are  tended  by  a 
herder  and  his  dog  much  the  same  as  in  the  United  States. 
The  climate  is  not  severe  enough  to  make  winter  feeding 
by  the  ranchmen  necessary,  and  the  food  found  on  the 
plains  is  nourishing  and  abundant,  so  the  sheep  industry  is 
very  successful  there.  Still  we  are  astonished  at  learning 
that  Argentina  exports  annually  four  hundred  and  fifty 
million  pounds  of  wool,  as  much  as  we  use  in  the  same 
time  in  all  our  factories. 

Most  of  the  Argentina  wool  is  sent  to  Europe,  where  it 
is  made  into  cloth,  a  part  of  which  is  sent  back  to  South 


248  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

America.  Jt  seems  odd  that  the  wool  must  be  sent  on  such 
a  long  journey  to  be  manufactured.  How  much  better  it 
will  be  for  the  South  American  people  when  they  have 
their  own  mills  and  factories. 

In  former  years  the  flesh  of  the  sheep  in  South  America, 
like  that  of  their  cattle,  was  considered  of  little  value  ;  but 
now  the  meat  from  two  hundred  thousand  sheep  is  exported 
every  month.  What  a  tremendous  amount !  No  wonder 
that  Buenos  Aires,  the  city  from  which  most  of  it  is  shipped, 
has  the  largest  frozen-meat  plant  in  the  world.  The  mutton 
as  well  as  the  beef  must  be  frozen  and  packed  in  refrig- 
erator ships  for  the  long  ocean  trip,  so  that  it  may  be- 
received  in  good  condition. 

Most  of  the  European  countries  raise  many  sheep,  Russia 
more  than  all  the  rest ;  but  all  the  wool  which  is  produced, 
and  much  more  besides,  is  needed  for  the  clothing  of  the 
people  at  home,  so  that  little  or  none  is  exported.  The 
great  mutton  and  wool  exporting  countries  are  those  which 
have  vast  unpopulated  areas  where  the  sheep  may  roam. 
Chief  among  these  are  Australia,  Argentina,  and  South 
Africa.  In  South  Africa  the  industry  is  important  and  fur- 
nishes work  for  many  people,  for  there  is  found  the  dry, 
healthful  climate  and  the  salty  food  which  the  sheep  like 
so  much.  Most  of  the  wool  from  South  Africa  is  sent  to 
England  for  use  in  her  great  factories.  Two  of  her  largest, 
most  important  colonies,  South  Africa  and  Australia,  are 
noted  for  the  amount  and  the  excellent  quality  of  the  wool 
they  produce,  and  both  send  immense  quantities  to  the 
mother  country. 

But  we  must  not  think  that  all  woolen  cloth  is  made 
from  the  covering  of  the  sheep;  that  of  other  animals  is 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY 


249 


also  used,  though  in  much  smaller  quantities.  The  wool 
from  which  cashmere  dresses  and  shawls  are  made  comes 
from  an  animal  whose  coat  has  furnished  material  for  cloth 
since  very  early  times.  The  Cashmere  goat  lives  in  the 
principality  of  Cashmere,  in  India ;  hence  its  name.  It  is 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  91.   ALPACAS  IN  PERU,  SOUTH  AMERICA 

found  also  in  Tibet.  Cloth  made  entirely  of  the  wool  of 
this  goat  is  very  expensive.  Most  of  that  which  we  call 
cashmere  cloth  is  a  combination  of  wool  and  cotton. 

The   alpaca,  another  kind  of  goat  which  lives  on  the 
Andes  Mountains  in  South  America,  yields  material  from 


250 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


which  a  cloth  of  the  same  name  is  made.  A  comparatively 
new  cloth  is  mohair.  This  is  made  from  the  covering  of 
the  Angora  goats,  which  are  raised  in  great  numbers  in 
South  Africa.  Other  countries  are  attempting,  with  some 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  92.    SHEARING  CAMELS  IN  EGYPT 

success,  to  raise  this  goat,  but  at  present  it  is  chiefly  found 
in  South  Africa. 

Even  the  gaunt,  ungainly  camel  is  used  to  help  furnish 
us  with  yet  another  kind  of  dress  goods.  Camel's-hair 
cloth  is  easily  distinguished  by  the  long  hairs  left  scattered 
over  the  surface.  This  cloth  is,  however,  rare,  most  of  the 


THE  SHEEP  AND  WOOL  INDUSTRY  251 

so-called  camel's-hair  cloth  being  made  from  the  hair  of 
the  cow  and  other  animals.  You  notice  in  the  picture 
that  the  shearing  of  the  camels  is  done  by  hand.  Modern 
machinery  finds  its  way  but  slowly  into  Eastern  countries, 
and  most  work  is  still  done  in  the  same  way  that  it  was 
hundreds  of  years  ago. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 
I 

1.  History. 

2.  Introduction  of  sheep  into  the  United  States. 

3.  Sheep  herding. 

4.  Area  of  sheep  raising  in  the  United  States. 

5.  Number  of  sheep  raised  in  the  United  States. 

6.  Conflict  between  cattle  and  sheep  owners. 

7.  Kinds  of  sheep  raised. 

8.  Sheep  shearing. 

9.  Woolen  manufacturing. 

10.  Slaughtering  and  packing. 

11.  Other  uses  of  sheep. 

12.  Sheep  raising  in  other  countries. 

II 

1.  Compare  the  cities  and  countries  spoken  of  in  this  chapter  with 
those  mentioned  in  the  cattle  industry.    How  many  do  you  find  men- 
tioned in  both  ? 

2.  Name  four  products  of  South  Africa  and  four  of  Argentina. 
To  what  countries  are  they  shipped  ? 

3.  Name  six  products  obtained  from  the  sheep. 

4.  Tell  the  story  of  a  piece  of  wool  from  the  time  it  leaves  the 
sheep  until  it  is  woven  into  cloth. 

5.  Add  to  your  interesting  collection  of  school  maps  by  pasting 
on  the  proper  country  a  picture  of  the  animal  from  which  wool  is 
obtained  there. 

6.  Read  the  description  of  the  shearing  in  "  Ramona,"  by  Helen 
Hunt  Jackson. 


252  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

III 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  and  in  any  previous 
chapter. 

Asia  Russia  Lawrence 

Australia  Mississippi  River  Lowell 

New  Zealand  Great  Plains  Providence 

Argentina  Pampas  Manchester 

South  Africa  Rocky  Mountains  New  York 

India  Andes  Mountains  Philadelphia 

Canada  Ohio  Chicago 

England  Montana  Buenos  Aires 

France  New  England  San  Francisco 

Germany  Boston 


CHAPTER  XVI 
LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 

Large  forest  areas  are  found  in  many  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  three  hundred  thousand  out  of  our  whole  popu- 
lation of  eighty  million  people  are  engaged  in  the  lumber 
industry.  As  the  forests  of  Wisconsin  are  yielding  to-day 
large  quantities  of  lumber,  let  us  see  what  life  in  the  woods 
there  is  like.  The  foreman  of  a  lumber  camp,  who  is  to 
have  charge  of  the  winter  work,  is  usually  busy  in  the  late 
summer  looking  up  his  men,  arranging  for  his  teams,  and 
laying  in  provisions.  Taking  with  him  some  of  the  men  he 
has  engaged,  he  starts  in  the  early  fall  for  that  part  of  the 
forest  where  the  felling  is  to  be  done. 

As  they  leave  the  beaten  track,  the  "  tote-road  "  has  to 
be  made.  This  is  a  rough  way  opened  through  the  woods 
by  the  felling  of  trees,  and  through  this  passage  the  teams 
find  their  way  to  the  spot  where  the  camp  is  to  be  located. 
All  the  horses  and  wagons  soon  make  their  appearance, 
bringing  a  variety  of  goods.  There  are  provisions  of  many 
kinds,  as  well  as  tools  for  the  workmen,  mattresses,  blankets, 
stoves,  and  perhaps  lumber  for  the  camp,  if  they  are  to 
build  other  than  a  temporary  one.  If  it  is  only  for  the 
winter,  it  will  probably  be  made  of  rough  logs  cut  down 
near  the  spot. 

After  the  men  and  provisions  arrive,  of  course  the  first 
thing  to  be  done  is  to  get  the  camp  in  readiness.  To  pro- 
vide a  winter  home  for  fifty  or  sixty  men  and  many  horses 

253 


254 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


means  a  great  deal  of  work.  A  comfortable  barn  for  the 
hard-working  animals  must  be  built,  with  a  blacksmith's 
shop  near  at  hand.  The  horses  will  need  to  be  kept  well 
shod,  in  order  that  they  may  pull  the  heavy  loads  over  the 
icy  ground.  There  are  chains  to  be  mended,  tools  to  be 


FIG.  93.   THE  LUMBERMEN'S  CAMP 

sharpened,  and  so  many  things  to  be  done  that  the  black- 
smith is  usually  one  of  the  busiest  men  in  the  place. 

More  important  than  all,  perhaps,  is  the  men's  camp,  a 
long  building  with  a  huge  stove  in  the  center  and  double 
tiers  of  bunks  around  the  sides.  In  the  old  days  these  bnuks 
were  filled  with  boughs  or  straw,  but  now  thin  mattresses 
are  usually  provided.  We  might  not  like  them  as  well  as 
those  to  which  we  are  accustomed,  but  the  mm,  after  a 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


255 


long  day's  work  in  the   cold,  frosty  air,  find  their  beds 
warm  and  comfortable,  and  sleep  well. 

The  cook's  camp  is  very  important,  and  the  cook,  like 
the  blacksmith,  is  one  of  the  hardest-worked  men  in  the 
camp.  The  workmen  make  long  days  in  the  woods,  and 
the  toot  of  the  horn  calling  them  to  meals  is  a  welcome 


FIG.  94.    FELLING  WITH  AXES 

sound.  The  food  is  hearty  and  nourishing  ;  potatoes,  pork, 
beans,  canned  vegetables,  mince  pie,  soup,  and  tea  make  up 
the  usual  bill  of  fare,  but  there  has  to  be  an  immense 
quantity  of  each  prepared  to  satisfy  the  appetites  of  the 
hungry  woodsmen.  The  evenings  are  short,  for  the  men 
are  tired  with  their  day's  work  and  go  to  bed  early.  Stories, 
games,  songs,  with  occasionally  a  rough  dance,  if  one  of 
the  men  is  fortunate  enough  to  possess  a  fiddle,  fill  the 


256  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

time  between  supper  and  bed.  The  men  are  called  in 
the  early  morning  and  after  a  hearty  breakfast  start  for  the 
woods.  They  usually  work  in  pairs,  using,  not  axes  as  in 
the  olden  days,  but  crosscut  saws.  These  are  several  feet 
long,  with  handles  at  each  end.  The  men  stand  on  either 
side  of  the  tree,  and  each  alternately  pulls  the  saw  toward 


FIG.  95.    FELLING  FIR  TREES  IN  OREGON 

him.  By  means  of  wedges  put  into  the  cut,  the  tree  can  be 
made  to  fall  in  any  desired  direction.  So  expert  do  these 
men  become  that  they  can  determine  within  a  very  few 
inches  exactly  where  the  tree  will  come  crashing  down. 

While  some  of  the  men  are  thus  engaged,  others  find 
plenty  of  work  of  a  different  kind.  Some  are  assigned  to 
the  task  of  making  the  "  log-road."  This  is  the  path  over 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


257 


which  the  logs  are  to  be  drawn  to  the  river  or  railroacL 
Great  pains  are  taken  to  make  it  as  smooth  as  possible,  in 
order  that  very  heavy  loads  may  be  drawn  over  it.  The  trees 
and  stumps  are  first  cleared  away,  after  which  the  road  is 
sometimes  plowed,  scraped,  and  shoveled  to  make  it  even. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  96.   A  HOLIDAY  AMONG  THE  FALLEN  MONARCHS 

It  is  usually  made  lower  than  the  ground  on  either  side,  in- 
stead of  higher,  as  our  ordinary  roads  are.  This  is  done  in 
order  that  there  may  be  no  opportunity  for  the  loads  to  slue. 
After  the  first  snowfall,  the  road  is  rolled  hard  and  smooth, 
and  sometimes  a  sprinkling  cart  is  run  over  it  to  give  it  a 


258 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


coating  of  ice.    On  such  a  road  a  team  of  four  horses  can 
haul  many  tons. 

Another  piece  of  work  that  has  to  be  attended  to  in  the 
fall  before  freezing  weather  comes  is  the  clearing  of  the 
river  down  which  the  logs  are  to  be  floated  in  the  spring. 
All  stumps,  snags,  and  everything  else  which  might  obstruct 
the  way  must  be  removed  in  order  to  make  the  work  of 
driving  the  logs  as  easy  as  possible  for  the  rivermen. 


FIG.  97.    SLEDDING 

Now  that  the  camp  is  finished,  the  river  cleared,  and  the 
road  to  it  built,  let  us  go  into  the  forest  where  the  men  are 
at  work.  After  the  trees  are  felled  and  the  limbs  cut  off, 
the  trunks  are  sawed  into  logs  of  the  desired  length.  This 
varies  from  ten  to  one  hundred  feet,  depending  somewhat, 
of  course,  on  the  height  of  the  tree,  though  the  average 
length  is  less  than  thirty  feet.  The  logs  must  then  be  taken 
from  the  spot  where  they  lie,  to  the  log-road,  where  they 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


259 


are  piled  upon  the  "  skidway."  This  consists  of  two  large 
logs,  several  feet  apart,  fastened  at  right  angles  to  the  road. 
Here  they  remain  until  they  are  loaded  upon  sleds  to  be 
drawn  to  the  river.  The  different  skidways  are  piled  high 
with  logs  before  the  teaming  begins,  for  this  is  usually 
postponed  until  the  ground  is  covered  with  snow. 


FIG.  98.   A  BIG  LOAD 

Loading  is  an  art  in  itself.  It  is  no  easy  task  to  make 
the  load  as  heavy  as  the  horses  can  draw,  and  yet  have 
every  log  stay  securely  in  its  place  until  the  strong  chains 
can  be  fastened  around  them.  If  a  log  should  slip,  it  might 
mean  the  breaking  of  a  man's  leg  or  back,  or  even  his  death 
if  he  should  be  caught  under  it,  so  the  men  who  do  this 
work  need  to  become  very  skillful.  The  picture  shows  how 


260  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

many  logs  can  be  drawn  at  one  time  over  these  roads,  and 
the  skill  of  the  men  who  load  them. 

In  early  days  lumber  was  considered  comparatively 
worthless  unless  it  was  near  some  stream.  At  the  present 
time  it  is  often  necessary  to  go  a  long  way  into  the  woods 
after  it,  so  far  indeed  that  in  some  regions  railroads  are 


FIG.  99.   THE  LOG  PILE 

built  to  carry  the  logs  to  the  mills  instead  of  using  rivers 
at  all.  In  Wisconsin  there  are  many  streams  penetrating 
the  forest  region,  the  most  important  of  which  are  the 
Chippewa,  Black,  and  Wisconsin  rivers.  These  and  their 
branches  furnish  waterways  down  which  each  year  many 
thousand  logs  are  floated  to  the  mills. 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


261 


We  have  followed  the  loaded  sled  through  the  icy  road 
in  the  woods  to  the  river.  There  we  find  great  numbers  of 
logs  resting  on  its  surface,  waiting  for  the  warm  weather  to 
break  up  the  ice.  When  the  stream  is  open,  the  river 
drivers  will  start  the  logs  on  their  voyage  down  the  Yellow 
River  into  the  Chippewa,  and  down  this  into  the  Mississippi 
and  to  the  city  of  Winona,  which,  like  most  places  along 
the  upper  Mississippi,  is  noted  for  its  lumber  products. 


FIG.  100.    A  LOG  JAM 

The  journey  of  the  logs  down  the  river  is  often  exciting, 
for  some  of  them  are  sure  to  get  caught  on  stump,  rock, 
or  snag,  and  the  others  pile  up  higher  and  higher  until 
the  whole  river  is  obstructed.  This  means  hard  work  for 
the  river  drivers,  for  a  "  jam,"  as  they  call  it,  is  one  of  the 
things  they  most  dread.  It  is  dangerous  work  climbing  out 
on  the  slippery  logs  to  loosen  the  "  key  log,"  which  is  the 
one  that  has  caused  all  the  trouble.  If  it  gives  way  sud- 
denly, the  driver  has  to  jump  for  his  life  out  of  the  way 


262 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


of  the  moving  mass.  It  is  often  weeks  before  the  drivers 
arrive  at  their  destination.  During  this  time  they  live  on  a 
house  boat  or  raft  which  usually  accompanies  the  logs.  The 
cook  is  as  important  a  character  here  as  he  is  in  the  lumber 
camp,  for  the  men  are  cold  and  wet  and  hungry,  and  long 
for  some  appetizing  food  and  a  few  minutes'  rest  and  warmth. 


FIG.  101.    THE  RIVER  HOUSE 

Many  different  companies  use  the  same  river.  Each  log 
is  marked  with  the  name  or  sign  of  the  owner,  but  all  float 
down  together  until  they  come  to  the  end  of  the  voyage, 
where  the  booms  are  located.  A  boom  is  a  water  yard  with 
a  log  fence.  Lines  of  logs  are  fastened  together  end  to  end, 
and  are  stretched  out  into  the  river  to  form  a  sort  of  inclos- 
ure.  Here  the  logs  are  separated  and  each  one  is  driven  into 
the  boom  where  it  belongs. 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES          263 

The  logs  pass  from  the  boom  to  the  sawmill,  where  the 
scream  of  the  swiftly  flying  saws  is  deafening.  If  some 
staid  old  Puritan  could  visit  a  modern  sawmill,  he  would 
surely  think  that  we  had  in  these  days  witches  more  power- 
ful than  any  of  the  olden  times.  For  it  seems  nothing  less 
than  miraculous  to  see  log  after  log  snatched  up  from  the 
water,  fastened  upon  a  table,  and  quickly  sliced  up.  The 


FIG.  102.    THE  BOOM 

pieces  are  as  quickly  carried  off  to  be  made  into  boards  of 
various  sizes  and  kinds,  shingles  or  laths.  In  the  modern 
mills  all  this  is  done  by  the  aid  of  saws  and  other  machin- 
ery without  the  touch  of  the  human  hand.  Such  wonder- 
ful saws  as  there  are,  and  so  many  kinds  !  Circular  saws  as 
large  as  your  dining-room  table,  gang  saws  all  moving  to- 
gether, and  band  saws  which  fly  so  fast  that  they  look  like 
a  plain,  straight  piece  of  steel,  —  all  whizzing  and  screaming 


264  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

for  more.  No  wonder  that  forests  are  fast  disappearing, 
when  men  are  hustling  to  feed  the  thirty  thousand  greedy 
sawmills  of  the  United  States,  in  which  thousands  of  logs 
are  changed  each  day  into  material  for  houses,  furniture, 
boats,  carriages,  and  many  other  things.  It  is  said  that  more 
than  for,ty  square  miles  of  forest  land  are  cut  off  every  year 
to  supply  this  great  demand. 

How  different  our  lives  would  be  if  there  were  no  forests 
to  supply  our  many  needs.  As  we  look  at  chair,  desk,  table, 
picture  frames,  pencils,  boxes,  penholders,  churches,  school 
houses,  wooden  tools,  and  wagons,  and  think  of  all  the 
many  ways  in  which  wood  serves  us,  we  begin  to  realize 
something  of  the  importance  of  our  forests.  The  value  of 
the  lumber  cut  in  the  United  States  each  year  is  equal  to 
that  of  all  the  iron,  gold,  and  silver  mined  here  in  the  same 
time.  It  is  such  an  immense  quantity  that  from  it  we  could 
make  a  pile  a  mile  long  and  a  mile  wide  and  higher  than 
a  five-story  building.  If  it  were  possible  to  construct  a 
sidewalk  to  the  moon,  the  lumber  cut  in  our  country  in 
one  year  would  be  sufficient  to  make,  out  of  plank  two 
inches  thick,  a  walk  five  feet  wide,  with  plenty  of  material 
for  the  supporting  crosspieces. 

But  you  are  asking,  Where  in  this  country  of  ours  do 
trees  grow  large  enough  and  in  sufficient  number  to  yield 
this  enormous  quantity?  Of  course,  trees,  and  many  of 
them,  grow  in  every  state,  but  if  we  wish  to  visit  the  great 
lumber  districts  we  must  go  to  one  of  five  regions. 

The  oldest  lumber  area,  that  is,  the  one  where  lumber 
has  been  obtained  for  the  greatest  number  of  years,  is  in 
the  northeastern  part  of  the  United  States  and  includes 
the  northern  half  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont. 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  265 

It  reaches  westward  into  New  York  and  northward  into 
Canada,  where  lumbering  is  one  of  the  most  important  in- 
dustries. Stretching  eastward  from  the  White  Mountains 
through  Maine  is  a  forested  region  larger  than  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  Fifty  years  ago,  from  this  New  England 
area,  one  half  of  all  the  lumber  used  in  the  country  was 
cut.  Now  it  furnishes  less  than  one  seventh.  The  industry 
here  is  diminishing  year  by  year,  for  as  the  lumber  grows 
scarcer  it  cannot  be  prepared  for  market  in  large  enough 
quantities  to  make  it  pay.  This  is  the  region  of  yesterday, 
and  the  lumber  industry,  like  so  many  others,  has  moved 
westward  and  southward. 

You  may  infer  from  its  name,  the  Pine  Tree  State,  that 
the  forests  in  Maine  are  made  up  largely  of  pine  trees. 
More  white  pine  than  any  other  kind  of  wood  is  used  in 
the  United  States  for  building  purposes.  So  much  has  been 
taken  from  the  forests  of  Maine,  that  not  enough  is  left  to 
induce  men  to  carry  on  lumbering  on  a  large  scale.  Many 
spruce  trees  are  found  here,  however,  and  although  it  is  a 
poor  kind  of  timber  for  building  purposes,  it  is  very  useful 
for  making  paper.  Most  of  the  paper  manufactured  to-day, 
except  the  finest  grades,  is  made  from  wood  pulp,  chiefly 
spruce,  instead  of  from  rags,  as  was  formerly  the  case. 

The  pulp  is  shipped  in  great  quantities  from  Maine  to 
other  states,  but  large  paper  mills  have  lately  been  erected 
near  the  forests  themselves.  One  of  the  largest  paper  mills 
ever  built  is  situated  at  Millinocket,  where,  but  a  few  years 
ago,  the  songs  of  the  birds  and  the  whispering  of  the  breeze 
in  the  tree  tops  were  the  only  sounds  to  be  heard.  Now 
the  buzz  of  machinery  drowns  all  other  sounds,  and  a  busy 
town  of  three  or  four  thousand  inhabitants  is  engaged  in 


266  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

making  paper.  Nearly  all  the  people  are  dependent  on  this 
one  industry,  and  the  great  mill  turns  out  daily  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  tons  of  newspaper. 

At  Rumford  Falls  is  another  concern  which  may  develop 
into  the  world's  greatest  producer  of  book  paper.  Here  also 
postal  cards  for  the  United  States  government  have  been 


FIG.  103.    LUMBER  AT  PAPER  MILL  AT  MILLINOCKET 
(Courtesy  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Forestry) 

made  at  the  rate  of  three  million  per  day.  A  large  paper- 
bag  mill  and  an  envelope  factory,  employing  hundreds  of 
hands,  are  near  by. 

With  all  these  paper  factories  and  others  like  them  using 
such  enormous  quantities  of  wood,  it  seems  as  if  the 
spruce  forests  must  soon  disappear  entirely,  as  indeed  they 
have  in  many  localities.  But  the  proprietors  of  these  mills, 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  267 

who  have  spent  millions  of  dollars  in  buildings  and  ma- 
chinery, are  not  so  unwise  as  to  use  all  the  material  which 
makes  their  business  such  a  profitable  one.  Experts  direct 
the  men  who  fell  the  trees,  and  none  are  cut  which  are 
less  than  nine  inches  in  diameter.  By  the  time  the  smaller 
ones  have  reached  this  size,  young  trees  have  sprung  up 
which  in  turn  will  replenish  the  forests,  and  so  a  continual 
growth  is  assured. 

Another  region  which  is  fast  becoming  one  of  yesterday 
is  the  one  we  have  described  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  embracing  the  states  of  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  and 
Minnesota.  Here  also  the  great  pine  forests  are  disappear- 
ing before  the  work  of  the  woodsman.  As  this  industry 
moves  northward  through  these  states,  the  lumbermen  with 
their  rough  camps,  buzzing  saws,  and  ringing  axes,  are  suc- 
ceeded by  farmers,  who  settle  upon  the  cleared  land  and 
earn  a  comfortable  living  by  raising  sugar  beets,  grain,  pota- 
toes, and  sleek,  fat  cows. 

Millions  and  millions  of  feet  of  pine  timber  have  been 
taken  from  these  lake  states.  Thousands  of  pioneers  went 
out  into  the  treeless  plains  to  plant  fields  of  wheat  and  corn, 
or  to  raise  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs.  What  would  they  have 
done  for  lumber  to  build  their  houses  and  barns,  and  to 
make  their  furniture,  if  there  had  been  no  forests  near? 
The  opening  up  of  Iowa,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  the  Dakotas, 
and  other  states  would  have  been  a  much  greater  problem 
if  the  wealth  of  pine  in  the  lake  region  had  been  lacking. 
No  other  forest  area  has  been,  perhaps,  of  so  much  value  in 
the  settling  and  developing  of  our  country.  It  has  served 
its  chief  purpose,  however,  and  never  again  will  such  enor- 
mous quantities  of  lumber  come  from  this  area  as  in  the 


268  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

early  nineties.  The  supremacy  in  this  industry  has  passed 
to  other  fields ;  and  to  visit  the  greatest  lumber  region  of 
to-day  we  must  go  to  the  South,  the  land  of  the  tall  South- 
ern pine. 

All  the  way  from  the  Carolinas  to  Texas  are  great  for- 
ests of  pine,  of  a  different  variety  from  that  in  the  North 
and  of  a  harder  wood.  More  men  find  work  in  the  forests 
and  sawmills  of  this  section  than  in  any  other  lumber  region 
of  the  country,  with  the  result  that  from  this  great  forest 
belt  comes  one  third  of  all  the  lumber  which  is  produced. 

In  the  South,  logging  is  carried  on  all  the  year  round. 
Lumbermen  do  not  depend  on  rivers,  but  have  built  many 
hundreds  of  miles  of  railroad  to  carry  the  logs  from  the 
woods  to  the  mill.  At  the  mills,  the  logs  are  kept  in  water 
storehouses,  reservoirs,  or  artificial  ponds  until  they  can  be 
sawed,  because  in  the  water  they  are  not  so  quickly  attacked 
by  bugs  of  various  sorts'.  The  water  also  soaks  out  the  sap 
and  prevents  discoloration  of  the  wood. 

But  years  are  required  for  the  growth  of  a  tree,  and  too 
many  lumbermen  care  little  for  the  future  supply,  if  they 
can  but  line  their  pockets  with  money  by  to-day's  toil.  So 
these  Southern  forests  are  fast  disappearing,  and,  if  the  fell- 
ing goes  on  at  the  present  rate,  very  few  of  any  great 
extent  will  be  standing  by  the  middle  of  the  century.  Of 
course  lumbering  will  be  carried  on  in  this  southern  region, 
as  well  as  in  the  other  areas  named,  for  many  years  to 
come,  but  it  will  be  in  a  smaller  way,  and  the  output  will 
not  go  far  toward  supplying  the  enormous  amount  which  we 
use  every  year. 

Now  let  us  go  to  the  area  of  the  future,  which  lies  in  the 
West,  that  wonderful  West  of  ours,  where  everything  is 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES          269 

conducted  on  such  a  large  scale :  where  acres  are  counted 
in  hundreds  instead  of  tens,  where  cattle  and  sheep  are 
owned  by  thousands  instead  of  hundreds,  and  where  trees 
grow  that  overtop  all  others  in  any  country.  In  Oregon 
there  is  a  greater  area  covered  by  forests  than  in  any  other 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  104.   PLUMING  LUMBER  FROM  THE  MOUNTAINS  IN  OREGON 

state.  In  Washington  and  Oregon  are  the  pines  and  firs, 
tall  and  straight  as  a  church  spire,  light  and  strong,  the 
best  timber  in  the  world  for  the  masts  of  vessels. 

With  all  this  wealth  of  wood,  no  wonder  that  some  of 
the  streets  in  Tacoma  and  other  Western  cities  are  paved 


270  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

with  this  material.  No  wonder  that  hundreds  of  ships 
loaded  with  timber  sail  every  year  from  Seattle,  Portland, 
and  San  Francisco,  to  China,  Japan,  South  America,  the 
Philippines,  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  No  wonder  that 
many  rafts,  containing  from  fifty  thousand  to  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  lumber,  and  large  enough  to  re- 
quire from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  tons  of  chains  to 
hold  the  logs  in  place,  are  towed  from  the  Columbia  River 
to  San  Francisco. 

But  to  see  the  very  largest  and  oldest  trees  in  the  whole 
world  we  must  go  to  California.  Trees  are  growing  there, 
strong  and  vigorous,  which  were  in  their  youth  when  the 
wise  men  from  the  East  journeyed  to  Bethlehem  to  see  the 
Christ-child.  If  Columbus,  when  he  discovered  the  new 
world,  could  have  penetrated  to  the  depths  of  these  forests, 
he  would  have  found  them  in  the  prime  of  their  life.  Some 
of  them  can  even  look  back  to  a  birthday  four  thousand 
years  ago  and  more.  They  have  stood  there,  strong  and 
silent  in  the  sunlight  and  in  the  pale  moonlight,  while  a 
hundred  generations  of  men  have  been  born,  lived,  and  died  ; 
while  a  hundred  wars  have  been  waged ;  while  kingdoms 
have  risen  and  decayed.  It  fills  us  with  awe  and  wonder  to 
think  of  any  living  thing  so  old. 

Most  of  these  giants  are  still  perfect,  showing  no  signs 
of  decay.  Some,  which  have  fallen  and  lain  for  hundreds 
of  years,  are  still  as  sound  as  when  they  first  came  crashing 
to  the  ground.  There  were  probably  once  upon  the  earth 
many  of  these  trees,  but  the  only  living  representatives  are 
found  in  California,  chiefly  in  two  groves.  One  of  these, 
the  Mariposa,  is  situated  on  the  western  slopes  of  the 
Coast  Mountains,  and  the  other,  the  Calaveras,  which 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


271 


contains  the  very  largest  trees,  is  located  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Sierras.  In  the  Mariposa  Grove  are  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  of  the  giants,  besides  many  others  which, 
anywhere  else,  we  should  call  very  large  indeed.  One  of 
these  trees  would  yield  sufficient  lumber  to  build  a  house. 
Some  have  bark  two  or  three  feet  thick.  A  schoolroom 
could  be  built,  or  a  dance  held,  upon  a  single  stump.  Many 


FIG.  105.   THE  TUNNEL  TREE 

of  the  largest  of  these  trees  have  been  named  for  some  noted 
person.  The  General  Fremont  received  its  name  from  the 
pioneer  who,  in  the  early  forties,  explored  California  and 
the  surrounding  country.  Finding  no  better  place,  he 
used  for  his  camp  its  hollow  trunk.  In  visiting  the  Mari- 
posa Grove,  thirty-one  of  us  stood  inside  this  tree  at  one 
time ;  and  it  could  have  accommodated  several  others, 
without  more  crowding  than  one  often  finds  on  a  street  car. 


272  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

California  contains  large  areas  covered  with  the  redwood, 
to  which  these  giant  trees  are  related.  Much  timber,  valu- 
able for  its  lasting  qualities  and  its  polish,  is  taken  yearly 
from  these  forests.  It  is  said  that  before  the  earthquake  in 
San  Francisco  nine  tenths  of  the  city  was  built  of  redwood. 
Shingles  made  from  it  are  excellent,  and  are  sold  all  over 
the  United  States. 

All  the  trees  of  which  we  have  spoken  thus  far  are  of 
soft  wood,  which,  though  good  for  houses,  shingles,  and 
low-priced  wooden  articles,*  is  not  suitable  for  fine  furniture 
and  the  things  which  require  a  high  polish  and  excellent 
finish.  So  we  must  look  for  one  other  area  in  our  country, 
the  hard-wood  region,  where  walnut,  oak,  cherry,  chestnut, 
birch,  beech,  and  other  deciduous  trees  grow.  These  trees, 
which  lose  their  leaves  in  winter,  are  usually  of  harder 
wood  than  the  evergreens. 

The  hard-wood  varieties  are  found  scattered  through  our 
country  in  many  different  places,  but  the  region  which  has 
yielded  the  greatest  quantity  is  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Ohio 
valley.  Though  great  areas  have  been  cleared  and  given 
over  to  farming,  there  is  still  much  lumber  near  the  Ohio 
River,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  West  Virginia,  and  Ken- 
tucky. 

If  you  will  find  on  the  map  the  five  lumber  regions  which 
have  been  described,  you  will  notice  the  advantage  which 
they  all  possess  in  being  on  or  near  great  bodies  of  water. 
The  New  England  area  lies  near  the  ocean,  with  the  good 
harbors  of  our  north  Atlantic  coast  close  at  hand.  The 
north  central  region  has  an  increased  value  because  of  its 
location  near  that  wonderful  inland  water  route  through 
the  Great  Lakes.  The  Pacific  forests  border  the  western 


UN1VER5MT 

OF 

1f?a 

LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  273 

ocean,  while  the  Southern-pine  region  lies  near  the  Gulf  and 
the  Atlantic  ports.  The  hard-wood  region  is  in  the  Ohio 
valley,  where  transportation  is  afforded  by  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers. 

Besides  these  lumber  regions  in  the  United  States  there 
are  other  countries  where  we  may  find  this  industry  carried 
on.  You  have  probably  read  stories  of  the  great,  dark  for- 
ests of  Russia,  and  the  danger  to  travelers  from  the  wolves 
which  live  in  them  in  great  numbers.  Most  of  the  animals 
from  which  Russia  obtains  her  valuable  furs  —  the  wolf, 
fox,  squirrel,  sable,  ermine,  and  marten  —  live  in  these 
woods ;  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Russian  government,  in  pre- 
serving her  forests  and  in  carrying  on  lumbering  carefully, 
serves  to  protect  the  fur  industry  as  well. 

Our  northern  neighbor,  Canada,  has  a  larger  forest  area 
than  any  other  country  and  exports  to  the  United  States 
immense  quantities  of  lumber  and  pulp.  England  also  buys 
largely  from  this  colony  of  hers. 

Having  located  the  most  important  forest  areas  of  the 
world,  you  can  easily  find  some  of  the  cities  which  are 
engaged  in  the  shipping  and  manufacturing  of  lumber.  Ban- 
gor  is  the  largest  lumber  market  in  the  eastern  area  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  situated  on  the  Penobscot  River,  just 
where  the  tide  of  the  ocean  and  the  current  of  the  river 
meet.  Here  the  tide  checks  the  current  so  that  it  is  difficult 
to  float  the  logs  much  farther  down  the  river.  Consequently 
an  immense  lumber  industry  has  grown  up  there.  You  will 
find  many  lumber  markets  on  the  Maine  coast  and  on  the 
Penobscot,  Kennebec,  and  Androscoggin  rivers,  at  Port- 
land, Bath,  Augusta,  Lewiston,  Auburn,  and  other  places. 
If  you  look  for  information  about  Maine  in  cyclopedia  or 


274  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

geography,  you  will  notice  how  many  of  its  cities  are  en- 
gaged in  some  form  of  the  lumber  industry.  Some  make  fur- 
niture, some  ships,  some  paper  pulp,  while  in  some  the  logs 
are  simply  changed  into  boards  and  shipped  away  in  that  form. 

In  the  Great  Lake  region  there  are  many  cities,  especially 
in  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  where  sawmills 
are  humming,  and  furniture,  carriage,  match,  and  other 
factories  are  busily  engaged  in  making  articles  of  everyday 
use.  Chicago  is  the  largest  lumber  market  in  the  world, 
for  it  is  very  favorably  situated  for  receiving  and  distribut- 
ing the  product.  Grand  Rapids  is  surpassed  only  by  Chicago 
in  furniture  manufactures.  Detroit,  another  lake  city,  is 
noted  for  its  manufactures  of  railway  and  street  cars.  You 
have  doubtless  often  seen  on  the  cars  the  name  of  some 
Detroit  company. 

Could  we  take  a  trip  down  the  Mississippi,  we  should 
find,  in  nearly  every  city  of  importance  as  far  south  as  St. 
Louis,  some  manufacturing  which  has  been  made  possible 
by  the  northern  forests  of  pine.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
cities  located  where  there  are  falls  in  the  river,  or  near  the 
mouths  of  smaller  streams,  down  which  the  logs  can  be 
easily  floated.  At  Minneapolis  the  lumber  industry  is  very 
important.  The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  furnish  the  city  with 
power,  and  the  forests  around  supply  the  wood,  so  that  the 
city  has  been  able  to  send  to  Western  settlers  materials  for 
homes,  and  tools  to  work  with.  In  return,  the  wheat  raised 
on  the  western  plains  has  been  sent  eastward  and  made  into 
flour,  so  that  Minneapolis  has  rapidly  grown  into  a  great 
lumber  and  flour  center. 

Going  down  the  river,  past  Red  Wing,  Winona,  Dubuque, 
Davenport,  Quincy,  and  St.  Louis,  we  should  see  rafts  and 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


275 


booms  of  lumber,  sawmills,  and  factories  turning  out  all  sorts 
of  wooden  articles.  You  will  notice  that  St.  Louis  is  so  situ- 
ated that  it  can  receive  by  water  pine  from  the  lake  region, 
hard  wood  from  the  Ohio  valley,  and  yellow  pine  from 
the  South.  Street  cars  are  made  there  in  great  numbers, 
the  sales  in  one  year  amounting  to  fifteen  million  dollars. 


FIG.  106.   PORT  BLAKELY  MILLS,  THE  LARGEST  IN  THE  WORLD 
WASHINGTON 

We  have  said  that  one  third  of  all  our  lumber  product 
comes  from  the  South,  and  we  find  there  many  cities  manu- 
facturing and  shipping  this  article.  Pensacola  and  Mobile 
rank  in  this  respect  higher  than  all  other  Southern  cities, 
each  of  them  sending  vessels  laden  with  wood  or  manufac- 
tured wooden  articles  to  more  than  one  hundred  ports  in 


276  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

our  own  country  and  Europe.  Charleston,  Savannah,  New 
Orleans,  and  Jacksonville  also  ship  great  quantities.  Fur- 
niture, doors,  and  blinds  are  made  in  large  quantities  in 
Macon,  Montgomery,  and  Atlanta. 

As  Washington  and  Oregon  are  so  largely  covered  with 
forests,  you  would  expect  to  find  there  much  shipping  and 
manufacturing  of  lumber.  In  Tacoma,  Seattle,  and  Port- 
land these  manufactures  are  of  greater  value  than  any 
other,  and  immense  quantities  of  lumber  in  the  rough  as 
well  as  the  finished  products  are  shipped  from  these  cities. 

More  than  eighty  million  dollars'  worth  of  furniture  is 
manufactured  in  the  United  States  every  year.  One  would 
think  that  this  would  be  enough  to  furnish  all  the  houses 
that  might  be  built  in  a  long  time,  but  next  year  we  shall 
need  just  as  much  more.  The  railroads  are  the  largest  con- 
sumers of  hard  wood,  for  they  use  great  quantities  for  ties 
and  cars.  Some  railway  and  telegraph  companies  have  pur- 
chased large  areas  of  land  on  which  they  have  planted 
young  trees,  in  order  to  be  sure  of  a  future  supply  of  lumber 
for  ties,  cars,  poles,  and  other  equipments. 

As  you  look  at  the  shoes  which  you  have  on,  you  may 
not  think  of  any  use  of  lumber  connected  with  them ;  yet 
the  hard,  stiff  hides  of  which  they  are  made  were  probably 
changed  into  soft  leather  by  the  use  of  an  acid  which  comes 
from  the  bark  of  the  hemlock  tree.  Some  of  the  greatest 
tanneries  of  the  United  States  are  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
tliis  tree  grows  in  great  abundance.  An  artificial  extract, 
which  may  in  the  future  take  the  place  of  the  hemlock  bark, 
is  already  used  to  some  extent  in  tanning  leather. 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  "naval  stores"  -tar,  pitch,  resin, 
ami  turpentine —  for  which  North  and  South  Carolina  and 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


277 


Georgia  are  noted  ?  These  also  are  a  product  of  the  forests. 
They  are  called  naval  stores  because  they  are  used  so 
largely  in  shipyards.  Tar  is  a  dark-colored  liquid  obtained 
from  the  pines  of  these  southern  states.  It  is  used  for 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  107.    CHIPPERS  ON  TURPENTINE  FARM,  GEORGIA 

coating  and  preserving  wood  which  is  exposed  to  the  water, 
and  also  in  medicines  and  in  soap  making. 

North  Carolina  is  sometimes  called  the  Turpentine  State, 
because  so  much  of  that  article  is  obtained  from  the  sap 
of  her  pine  trees.  It  is  used  largely  in  medicine  and  in 
the  making  of  paints  and  varnishes.  Resin  is  a  by-product 


278  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

obtained  in  the  preparation  of  turpentine,  and  enters  into 
the  composition  of  sealing  wax,  varnish,  cement,  and  soap. 
Pitch,  which  is  obtained  from  tar,  is  useful  in  calking  ves- 
sels, —  filling  cracks  and  seams  in  the  boards  so  that  they 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  108.   POURING  TURPENTINE  IN  GEORGIA 

shall  be  water-tight.  These  naval  stores  were  more  impor- 
tant when  only  wooden  vessels  were  made  than  they  are 
now  in  the  days  of  steel  ships.  The  southern  states  furnish 
nine  tenths  of  the  world's  supply.  Savannah  ships  more 
from  her  harbor  than  any  other  city  in  the  world. 

Some    trees  that  do  not  grow  in  our   country  furnish 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 


279 


products  which  we  should  find  it  very  hard  to  do  without. 
Chief  among  these  is  rubber,  which  is  made  from  the  sap 
of  a  tree  which  grows  in  great  numbers  in  the  Amazon 
valley  in  South  America.  Formerly  the  sap  was  obtained 
from  the  trees  of  the  uncultivated  forest,  but  now  there  are 
many  plantations  in  both  South  America  and  Mexico  where 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  109.   TWENTY  THOUSAND  RESIN  BARRELS  ON  SAVANNAH  WHARF 

GEORGIA 

the  trees  are  set  out  and  cared  for.  We  buy  one  half  of  all 
the  rubber  which  is  produced  in  Brazil,  for  we  make  six 
times  as  many  rubber  boots  and  shoes  as  are  made  in  all 
Europe.  In  the  United  States  all  classes  of  people,  whether 
they  are  rich  or  poor,  think  rubbers  are  a  necessity  and  buy 
great  numbers  of  them,  but  in  Europe  few  of  the  lower  or 


280  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

peasant  classes  can  afford  them.  Besides  being  used  for 
clothing,  an  immense  quantity  of  rubber  is  made  into  tires 
and  belting,  for  to-day  rubber  is  being  used  largely  on  car- 
riages, automobiles,  and  bicycles. 

Another  curious  product,  though  not  a  sap,  which  comes 
from  a  South  American  tree,  is  that  bitter  medicine,  quinine. 
It  is  obtained  from  the  bark  of  the  cinchona  tree,  which 
grows  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  Peru  and  Ecuador. 

Cork  is  another  product  obtained  from  the  bark  of  a  tree, 
—  the  cork  tree  of  Spain.  As  the  duty  on  manufactured 
articles  is  usually  greater  than  on  raw  materials,  most  of 
the  cork  is  imported  in  the  rough  state  and  is  made  in  this 
country  into  stoppers  for  bottles  and  into  other  articles. 
You  have  probably  seen  powdered  cork,  for  grapes  imported 
from  Spain  are  often  packed  in  it. 

The  camphor  tree  of  Japan  yields  a  fragrant  oil  which  we 
use  in  our  homes  and  which  enters  into  the  manufacture  of 
gunpowder.  When  Russia  was  at  war  with  Japan,  little  cam- 
phor was  exported  from  the  latter  country,  as  she  needed  it 
in  the  gunpowder  which  she  was  then  making  in  immense 
quantities.  Because  of  this,  camphor  became  very  expensive. 

The  tree  that  is  perhaps  most  useful  to  the  most  people 
in  a  variety  of  ways  is  the  bamboo,  which  grows  in  China 
and  Japan.  One  could  build  a  house  and  furnish  it  almost 
entirely  with  articles  made  from  this  wood  alone.  It  is 
used  for  the  framework  of  houses,  furniture,  tools,  boats, 
rafts,  and  many  other  things.  It  is  not  easy  to  think  of  any 
article  which  serves  in  so  many  ways  as  the  bamboo  does 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

Mahogany,  ebony,  and  rosewood  are  all  tropical  woods 
and  are  valuable  because  they  are  so  hard  au<l  take  such  a 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  281 

fine  polish.    Pianos,  tables,  and  other  articles  of  expensive 
furniture  are  made  from  them. 

Though  we  have  mentioned  so  many  uses  of  trees,  we 
must  not  omit  one  which  is  perhaps  the  most  important,  — 
their  influence  on  the  water  supply  of  the  earth.  Can  you 
believe  that  on  every  bright,  sunny  day  a  large  tree  draws 
from  the  deep  soil,  or  from  hidden  springs  which  its  root- 
lets reach,  several  tons  of  water,  which  it  gives  to  the  air 
through  its  leaves  ?  When  you  think  that  nearly  an  equal 
amount  is  passing  into  the  air  through  the  leaves  of  every 
medium-sized  tree,  you  can  see  what  a  great  influence  for- 
ests have  in  supplying  the  air  with  needed  moisture  which 
later  falls  in  rain,  and  you  can  understand  the  injury  to 
crops  that  may  result  from  the  wholesale  destruction  of 
these  "  water-breathers." 

Trees  not  only  give  much  moisture  to  the  air  through 
their  leaves,  but  they  help  to  keep  it  in  the  ground.  The 
long  roots  penetrating  the  soil  make  it  open  and  porous, 
and  the  covering  of  leaves  acts  as  a  thick,  soft  cushion. 
When  the  rains  come,  much  of  the  water  sinks  into  the 
soil  and  is  held  there  as  in  a  reservoir  instead  of  running 
off  as  it  falls.  The  deep  shade  of  the  forest  trees  protects 
the  soil  from  the  sun,  and  evaporation  does  not  take  place 
so  rapidly.  The  moisture  is  therefore  left  to  sink  into  the 
ground  instead  of  being  quickly  taken  up  into  the  air  again. 
If  the  forests  are  removed,  the  soil  becomes  hard  and  com- 
pact ;  there  is  no  cushion  of  leaves  to  hold  the  moisture,  and  it 
flows  off,  filling  the  brooks  and  rivers  to  overflowing  and  caus- 
ing damage  by  floods.  When  the  dry  season  comes,  as  there 
is  no  reserve  water  left  in  the  soil  to  replenish  the  streams, 
they  dry  up,  and  the  whole  region  suffers  from  drought. 


282  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

Thus  the  cutting  off  of  the  forests  is  a  serious  menace 
to  our  country ;  but  most  lumbermen  think  of  nothing  but 
the  value  of  the  wood  as  represented  in  dollars  and  cents. 
If  they  thought  of  the  effect  on  the  farming  region  around 
of  laying  bare  acres  of  wooded  land,  they  would  cut  only 
trees  of  a  certain  size,  leaving  the  young  growth  to  replenish 
the  old. 

A  serious  danger  to  forests  comes  from  fires.  In  the 
state  of  Washington,  which  you  remember  is  largely  covered 
with  timber,  more  has  been  destroyed  in  a  single  year  from 
fires  than  the  woodsmen  have  cut  in  that  time.  Fires 
originate  in  different  ways.  Locomotives  are  responsible 
for  a  good  many,  and  campers,  hunters,  and  tramps  are 
careless  about  matches  and  camp  fires.  From  these  small 
causes  are  started  great  conflagrations,  which  destroy  thou- 
sands of  dollars'  worth  of  lumber.  Railroad  companies  often 
clear  the  land  for  a  certain  distance  on  either  side  of  the 
track,  so  that  sparks  are  not  so  likely  to  set  fire  to  the 
underbrush. 

People  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the  cutting 'off  of 
the  forests  and  the  destruction  by  fires  are  a  serious  menace 
to  the  wealth  of  the  country.  The  division  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  known  as  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  is 
doing  all  in  its  power  to  preserve  the  forest  growth.  All 
civilized  nations  of  the  world  practice  forestry.  Indeed  it 
has  been  said  that  a  nation's  advance  in  civilization  may  be 
measured  by  its  care  of  forests.  More  than  one  fifth  of  all 
the  forested  land  in  the  United  States  is  in  state  or  national 
reservations.  Of  this  amount  nearly  one  hundred  fifty  mil- 
lion acres  are  now  controlled  by  the  national  government. 
Taken  all  together  this  is  about  as  much  as  is  included  in 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  283 

New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  These  lands  are  patrolled  by 
guards,  the  animal  life  is  protected,  new  trees  are  planted, 
and  fires  are  guarded  against.  Lumbering  is  done  in  a 
scientific  way,  so  that  the  young  growth  will  replenish  the 
old;  the  brush  is  not  left  to  dry  and  become  tinder  for 
forest  fires. 

From  the  rent  of  the  grazing  lands  included  in  the  reserva- 
tions, and  from  the  sale  of  lumber,  the  government  realizes 
each  year  between  one  and  two  million  dollars.  Some  of 
this  income  is  returned  to  the  counties  in  which  the  forests 
lie,  and  is  devoted  to  public  schools  and  roads. 

It  has  been  made  possible  for  school  children  to  help  in 
restoring  the  woods  and  in  beautifying  streets  and  grounds. 
Every  state  has  set  apart  an  Arbor  Day,  for  the  purpose  of 
planting  trees,  vines,  and  shrubs.  In  other  countries  this  plan 
is  carried  out  on  a  larger  scale.  In  Sweden  alone  six  hundred 
thousand  trees  were  planted  in  one  year  by  school  children. 

In  the  spring  of  1907  President  Roosevelt  wrote  this 
message  to  the  children  of  the  United  States : 

Arbor  Day  (which  means  simply  "  Tree  Day  ")  is  now  observed  in 
every  state  in  our  Union,  and  mainly  in  the  schools.  At  various  times 
from  January  to  December,  but  chiefly  in  this  month  of  April,  you 
give  a  day  or  part  of  a  day  to  special  exercises,  and  perhaps  to  actual 
tree  planting,  in  recognition  of  the  importance  of  trees  to  us  as  a 
nation,  and  of  what  they  yield  in  adornment,  comfort,  and  useful 
products  to  the  communities  in  which  you  live. 

It  is  well  that  you  should  celebrate  your  Arbor  Day  thoughtfully, 
for  within  your  lifetime  the  nation's  need  of  trees  will  become  serious. 
We  of  an  older  generation  can  get  along  with  what  we  have,  though 
with  growing  hardship ;  but  in  your  full  manhood  and  womanhood 
you  will  want  what  nature  so  bountifully  supplied  and  man  so 
thoughtlessly  destroyed  ;  and  because  of  that  want  you  will  reproach 
us,  not  for  what  we  have  used,  but  for  what  we  have  wasted. 


284  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

A  people  without  children  would  face  a  hopeless  future  ;  a  country 
without  trees  is  almost  as  hopeless ;  forests  which  are  so  used  that 
they  cannot  renew  themselves  will  soon  vanish,  and  with  them  all 
their  benefits.  A  true  forest  is  not  merely  a  storehouse  full  of  wood, 
but,  as  it  were,  a  factory  of  wood,  and  at  the  same  time  a  reservoir 
of  water. 

When  you  help  to  preserve  our  forests  or  to  plant  new  ones,  you 
are  acting  the  part  of  good  citizens.  The  value  of  forestry  deserves, 
therefore,  to  be  taught  in  the  schools,  which  aim  to  make  good  citi- 
zens of  you.  If  your  Arbor  Day  exercises  help  you  to  realize  the 
vast  benefits  each  one  of  you  receives  from  the  forests,  and  how 
by  your  assistance  these  benefits  may  continue,  they  will  serve  a 
good  end. 

(Signed) 

Theodore  Roosevelt 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY 


1.  A  journey  to  a  lumber  region. 

2.  Life  in  a  lumber  camp. 

3.  Methods  of  felling,  hauling,  river  driving,  etc. 

4.  Sawmills. 

5.  Value  of  our  lumber  product. 

6.  Lumber  areas  in  the  United  States. 

7.  Lumber  regions  of  the  world. 

8.  Cities  connected  with  the  lumber  industry. 

9.  Uses  of  lumber. 

10.  Dangers  to  forests. 

11.  The  forest  service. 

12.  Arbor  Day. 

II 

1.  Complete  the  following  sentences  : 
Canada  has  —   —  than  any  other  country. 

Trees  which  —    —  their  leaves  are  usually  formed  of  -    —  wood. 
Chicago  is  the  —    —  market  in  the  world. 

We  get  —   —  from  Japan,  —    —  from  Brazil,  and  —      -from  IVni 
and  Ecuador. 


LUMBERING  AND  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES  285 

2.  On  an  outline  map  of  the  United  States,  color  the  five  lumber 
areas  a  pale  green.    Write  the  names  of  the  states  included,  sketch 
in  rivers,  and  locate  the  cities  connected  with  the  industry. 

3.  What  railroads  run  from  Minneapolis  to  states  farther  west  ? 
What  products  form  some  of  the  freight  ?   What  is  carried  back  to 
Minneapolis  ? 

4.  Sketch  the  Mississippi  River.  Add  the  lumber  streams  flowing 
into  it.    Locate  on  it  at  least  six  cities  connected  with  the  lumber 
industry. 

5.  Tell  all  the  differences  you  can  between  lumbering  in  the 
northern  United  States  and  in  the  southern  portions.    What  resem- 
blances in  carrying  on  the  work  can  you  think  of  ? 

6.  Make  a  list  of  as  many  hard-wood  trees  as  you  can ;  of  those 
yielding  soft  woods. 

7.  Make  a  list  of  the  articles  in  your  schoolroom  which  are  made 
of  wood ;  of  those  in  your  home. 

8.  Tell  three  advantages  of  the  position  of  Minneapolis ;    of 
St.  Louis. 

9.  Name  twelve  uses  of  trees. 

10.  On  a  map  of  South  America,  write  the  names  of  all  countries 
you  have  studied  in  this  or  in  other  chapters.  Write  in  each  country 
the  name  of  the  product  obtained  there.  In  what  other  chapter  have 
you  read  of  cork  ?  Explain  the  effects  of  forests  on  rainfall. 

Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  was  said  about  it  in  this  chapter  and  in  any  pre- 
vious chapters. 

New  England  States  Iowa  Japan 

Southern  States  Kansas  Peru 

Pacific  States  Nebraska  Ecuador 

Wisconsin  The  Dakotas        Brazil 

Michigan  Philippine  Islands 

Ohio  Canada  Hawaiian  Islands 

Indiana  Mexico 

Illinois  England  Detroit 

West  Virginia  Russia  St.  Louis 

Kentucky  China  Minneapolis 


286 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Red  Wing 
Dubuque 
Davenport 
Quincy 
Pensacola 

Auburn 
Tacoma 
Seattle 
Portland 
San  Francisco 

Mobile 

Winona 

Charleston 
Savannah 
Bangor 
Millinocket 

Chicago 
Grand  Rapids 
New  Orleans 
Jacksonville 

Rumford  Falls 

Macon 

Portland 
Bath 

Montgomery 
Atlanta 

Augusta 
Lewiston 

Ohio  River 

Columbia  River 
Penobscot  River 
Kennebec  River 
Androscoggin  River 
Chippewa  River 
Black  River 
Wisconsin  River 
Yellow  River 
Mississippi  River 

Falls  of  St.  Anthony 
The  Lake  Route 
White  Mountains 
Coast  Mountains 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FISHERIES 
COD  AND  MACKEREL  FISHING 

Gloucester  is  a  quaint  old  fishing  city,  more  noted  than 
any  other  in  the  United  States  for  its  ocean  harvests.  Here 
one  may  become  acquainted  with  people  who  "  go  down  to 
the  sea  in  ships,"  and  whose  livelihood  is  dependent  upon 
the  scaly  family.  It  is  interesting  to  watch  the  vessels,  laden 
with  their  slippery  cargoes,  come  into  the  harbor,  and  see 
the  men  welcomed  back  from  their  long,  dangerous  voyage 
by  family  and  friends. 

As  we  wander  through  the  streets  we  shall  see  many 
signs  of  the  industry  which  has  made  the  city  famous. 
There  are  numerous  factories  for  making  things  which 
sailors  use,  such  as  anchors,  nets,  and  twine.  Many  vessels 
are  riding  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  and  on  the  shore  are 
many  large  frames,  called  flakes,  filled  with  hundreds  of 
fish  drying  in  the  sun. 

If  we  should  be  present  at  any  large  gathering  of  the 
townspeople,  we  should  notice  how  many  of  the  women  are 
dressed  in  mourning  for  the  father  or  husband  or  brother 
who  sailed  away  to  the  fishing  banks  never  to  return. 
Probably  nowhere  else  in  the  world  can  one  see  so  large  a 
proportion  of  women  dressed  in  black. 

An  interesting  service  is  held  in  Gloucester  similar  to 
that  which  other  cities  and  towns  hold  on  Memorial  Day. 

287 


288 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


FISHERIES  289 

There  is  this  difference  however.  In  Gloucester  the  flowers, 
instead  of  being  laid  on  the  graves  of  dead  soldiers,  are 
scattered  on  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  in  which  so  many  of 
the  men  of  the  city  have  found  a  final  resting  place. 

Formerly  great  quantities  of  fish  were  found  near  the 
shores  of  Canada  and  northern  United  States  and  were 
caught  by  men  each  alone  in  his  dory.  Now,  however,  this 
inshore  fishing,  as  it  is  called,  is  of  little  importance  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  deep  sea.  Though  there  is  less 
danger  in  the  former  method,  it  lacks  the  inspiration  and 
excitement  of  the  life  of  the  deep-sea  fisherman. 

For  three  miles  out  from  the  shore,  fishing  is  controlled 
by  the  nation  whose  land  the  water  washes.  Beyond  this 
limit  the  people  of  all  nations  have  equal  rights. 

Let  us  see  what  the  life  of  a  deep-sea  fisherman  is  really 
like.  Supplied  with  provisions,  nets,  lines,  trawl,  bait,  salt, 
and  other  necessities,  the  crew  sets  sail  in  early  June  for  a 
four  or  five  months'  trip  to  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 
nine  hundred  miles  away.  These  banks  are  stretches  of 
shallow  water  reaching  out  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
from  shore.  The  submarine  banks  have  been  built  up 
through  long  ages  by  the  sediment  deposited  by  the  two 
great  ocean  currents  which  meet  there.  The  icebergs,  too, 
which  come  as  far  south  as  this,  bring  much  soil  with  them, 
and  the  wash  from  the  land  aids  in  the  work.  Shellfish  of 
various  kinds  live  and  die  here,  thus  helping  to  build  up 
the  plains  under  the  water. 

This  shallow  water  is  the  home  of  many  small  fish,  and 
for  this  reason  is  visited  by  the  larger  kinds,  particularly 
cod,  which  feed  upon  them.  It  is  by  following  the  move- 
ments of  small  fish  that  schools  of  larger  ones  are  located. 


290  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

One  of  the  chief  ways  of  catching  cod  is  by  trawling.  A 
line,  or  trawl,  often  more  than  a  mile  in  length,  has  attached 
to  it,  about  a  yard  apart,  many  short  lines  from  three  to  six 
feet  long,  each  weighted  and  baited.  Dories,  each  carrying 
a  trawl  and  manned  by  a  few  men,  put  out  from  the  schooner. 
When  some  distance  away,  and  near  where  they  have  rea- 
son to  think  fish  are  plenty,  they  anchor  one  end  of  the 
trawl  line,  then  row  off  a  sufficient  distance  and  anchor  the 
other  end.  The  long  line  is  made  to  float  on  the  surface  of 
the  water  by  means  of  cork. 

While  these  men  are  out  in  the  boat,  perhaps  a  heavy 
fog  shuts  them  in,  for  during  much  of  the  year  dense  fogs 
hang  over  and  around  the  banks,  making  navigation  ex- 
tremely dangerous.  The  cold  air  over  the  Arctic  Current 
meets  the  warm,  moisture-laden  air  over  the  Gulf  Stream ; 
the  contact  causes  the  vapor  to  be  condensed  into  fog. 
Hurriedly  finishing  their  work,  they  row,  as  they  suppose, 
toward  the  vessel.  But  the  wind  and  current  may  have 
shifted,  and,  though  they  have  a  compass,  they  may  be  mov- 
ing every  moment  farther  away  from  any  chance  of  rescue. 
The  trawl  and  the  heavy  fish  endanger  them  still  further  by 
their  great  weight,  and  heavy  seas  may  break  over  the  boat. 
And  yet,  until  all  hope  is  gone,  no  fisherman  will  cast  over- 
board the  catch  which  he  has  been  at  such  pains  to  secure. 

In  his  "Fishing  Industry  of  New  England"  Professor 
Tarr  writes  as  follows : 

In  order  to  set  the  trawl  and  to  remove  the  fish  from  it,  men 
must  leave  the  vessels  in  their  dories.  If  a  snow  squall  arises,  or  a 
fog  sets  in  while  the  men  are  out,  they  are  apt  to  be  separated  from 
their  schooner,  and,  drifting  about,  become  hopelessly  lost  in  the 
ocean.  Every  year  lives  are  lost  in  this  manner,  and  very  often  men 


FISHERIES  291 

are  adrift  for  days  before  being  picked  up,  perhaps  crazed  by  thirst 
or  almost  starved  or  badly  frozen. 

In  some  years  over  two  hundred  men  are  lost  from  the  port  of 
Gloucester,  and  every  year  there  are  scores  of  lives  sacrificed.  The 
result  is  that  the  percentage  of  widows  and  orphans  in  Gloucester  is 
unduly  large,  yet  the  freedom,  independence,  and  excitement  of  the 
life,  added  to  the  possibility  of  profit,  induce  men  to  engage  in  the 
industry.  But  the  wives  and  mothers  ashore,  lacking  the  excitement, 
wait,  watch,  and  pray,  spending  sleepless  nights  listening  to  the  roar 
of  the  storm  waves  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  they  know  that  this 
very  storm  may  rob  them  of  their  dear  ones.  Then  when  it  is  time 
for  the  return,  they  watch  and  listen,  and,  alas,  in  far  too  many  cases, 
anxiety  gives  place  to  fear,  then  to  dread  uncertainty,  and  finally  to 
hopeless  certainty  that  the  vessel  will  never  again  enter  port  and 
that  no  one  will  ever  know  more  than  that  it  lies  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea. 

Another  means  of  catching  fish,  especially  mackerel,  is 
by  means  of  a  seine.  This  is  a  huge  net,  with  which  the 
fish  are  surrounded ;  the  bottom  is  so  arranged  that  it  can 
be  drawn  up,  making  a  sort  of  bag.  The  following  descrip- 
tion of  seining  a  school  of  mackerel  is  taken  from  an  article 
by  A.  W.  Dimock,  entitled  "  With  the  Gloucester  Fisher- 
men," printed  in  the  Outlook: 

Mackerel  are  alert  and  shy.  We  followed  them  in  silence  and 
darkness,  our  solitary  lantern  hidden  in  a  bag  at  the  end  of  the  dory. 
The  stern  of  the  seine  boat  was  heaped  with  half  a  mile  of  net,  one 
hundred  feet  deep,  weighing,  with  its  sinkers,  three  thousand  pounds. 
Beside  the  net,  ready  to  pay  it  out,  were  two  of  the  crew.  Another 
handled  the  long  steering  oar,  while  the  captain  in  command  stood 
upon  the  piled-up  net  where  he  had  jumped.  The  forward  end  of  the 
boat  was  filled  with  nine  oarsmen.  Only  the  cook  and  gasoline  en- 
gineer were  left  on  board  the  schooner.  The  former  was  at  the  helm 
with  duties  enough  to  keep  him  awake.  He  was  to  trim  the  sails,  to 
follow  the  boats  by  the  hour  through  the  Egyptian  darkness,  always 
to  be  near  but  not  too  near,  and  never  to  alarm  the  iisn.  He  was  not 
to  bje  run  down,  and  if  possible  he  was  to  avoid  running  down  any 


292  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

other  member  of  the  fishing  fleet  or  even  the  unlighted  seine  boats 
with  which  they  might  crowd  the  waters.  He  was  to  have  a  hot 
supper  and  warm  beds  always  ready  for  the  seventeen  hungry  men. 

When  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  mackerel  and  a  little 
ahead  of  their  course,  one  end  of  the  net  was  given  to  the  dory, 
which  remained  stationary,  while  the  net  was  paid  out  from  the 
larger  boat  as  it  was  rowed  rapidly  in  front  of  the  school.  When 
half  surrounded,  the  fish  struck  the  net  and  dashed  hither  and  thither 
in  wild  alarm.  They  swam  toward  the  dory  and  were  frightened 
back  by  the  splashing  of  the  oars.  Before  they  found  the  gap  in 
their  environment,  it  was  closed  and  they  were  prisoners. 

A  long  line  fixed  to  the  bottom  of  the  net  was  drawn  in,  pursing 
the  net  as  it  was  pulled  aboard  by  a  windlass,  until  the  portion  re- 
maining in  the  water  inclosed  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  mackerel 
in  solid  mass. 

His  work  on  the  seine  boat  finished,  the  captain  came  on  board 
the  dory  and  was  quickly  rowed  to  the  schooner.  With  his  hand 
upon  the  wheel,  as  he  laid  the  schooner  beside  the  net  with  exact- 
ness, he  spoke  of  needful  haste,  for  the  curious  reason  that  in  the 
very  cold  water  the  fish  soon  become  exhausted  and  their  dead 
weight  unmanageable.  Twenty  feet  of  the  top  of  the  net  was  made 
fast  along  the  schooner's  rail,  while  in  the  seine  boat  a  dozen  Titans 
heaved  and  strained  and  struggled  with  ten  tons  of  wriggle  and  flop 
and  slime.  Deep  in  the  mass  the  captain  plunged  a  scoop  net  with 
handle  twenty  feet  long  and  iron  mouth  three  feet  in  diameter. 
When  filled,  it  called  for  six  men  at  the  tackle  to  hoist  it  on  board. 
Each  minute  a  solid  stream  of  fish  poured  on  to  the  main  deck,  filling 
every  space  and  crevice,  burying  boxes,  barrels,  and  coils  of  rope,  and 
mounting  above  the  quarter-deck  until  that  too  was  covered  and 
the  men  were  working  in  a  sea  of  fish,  the  incoming  tide  rising  to 
their  waists.  For  a  strenuous  hour  the  light  of  torches  illumined  the 
faces  and  silhouetted  against  the  night  the  forms  of  men  pursing  the 
burdened  net. 

The  emptied  net  was  piled  on  the  quarter-deck,  but  no  rest  came 
to  the  men.  No  fisherman  may  undress  until  all  the  fish  are  dressed. 
Trays  were  hastily  erected  for  splitting,  gibbing.  and  salting.  Fish 
were  shoveled  upon  these  trays  and  split  from  head  to  tail  by  a  slash 
of  the  knife  along  the  side,  sometimes  at  the  incredible  rate  of  sixty 
to  the  minute  by  a  single  man.  When  split  they  are  tossed  to  the 


FISHERIES  293 

gibber,  who  removes  the  parts  of  the  fish  not  used  for  food.  They 
are  then  dropped  into  barrels  which  are  flooded  with  salt  water  as 
fast  as  filled.  When  the  decks  have  been  cleared  of  fish,  the  trays 
are  covered  with  salt  in  which  are  dipped  the  mackerel  taken  from 
the  wash  barrels. 

There  are  three  great  fishing  centers  for  cod  and  mackerel. 
All  the  countries  washed  by  the  waters  of  the  North  Sea 
are  engaged  in  this  industry,  Norway  leading.  The  second 
region  is  the  northwestern  part  of  the  North  Atlantic, 
stretching  from  beyond  Cape  Race  to  Cape  Hatteras.  In 
this  section  the  fisheries  around  Newfoundland  exceed  all 
others  in  value.  The  third  great  fishing  center  is  the  north- 
western coast  of  the  North  Pacific  Ocean.  In  these  waters 
also  are  found  those  submarine  banks  which  are  the  best 
breeding  places  and  feeding  grounds.  The  fisheries  of  Japan 
are  perhaps  the  most  noted  of  this  region. 

No  part  of  the  fish  is  useless.  The  flesh,  tongue,  and 
sounds  are  eaten,  the  offal  and  bones  are  used  in  a  fertilizer 
known  as  fish  guano,  the  swimming  bladder  aids  in  the 
manufacture  of  isinglass,  the  roe  is  used  for  bait  in  the 
sardine  fisheries  of  France,  and  from  the  liver  is  made  cod- 
liver  oil,  a  well-known  medicine.  Immense  quantities  of 
glue  are  made  each  year  from  the  skin  and  bones,  one  firm 
in  Gloucester  using  several  thousand  tons  each  year.  From 
the  refuse  not  used  in  the  glue  factories,  with  the  addition 
of  other  materials,  hundreds  of  tons  of  fertilizer  are  made 
annually  by  the  same  company. 

SALMON 

The  story  of  the  salmon  is  more  interesting  than  that  of 
any  other  fish.  It  is  a  salt-water  fish,  and  yet  it  is  caught 


294  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

in  fresh  water.  That  seems  a  contradiction,  but  it  is  never- 
theless true.  The  salmon,  for  the  greater  part  of  its  life, 
lives  in  the  ocean,  perhaps  not  very  far  from  the  mouth  of 
some  river,  —  for  example,  the  Columbia,  for  it  is  in  this 
vicinity  that  the  greatest  salmon  industry  in  the  world  is 
carried  on.  When  the  time  comes  for  the  fish  to  lay  its 
eggs,  it  leaves  the  ocean  and  swims  up  the  river.  After  it 
leaves  the  salt  water,  the  Pacific  salmon  loses  its  taste  for 
food  and  eats  little  or  nothing.  When  it  reaches  the  smaller 
branches  of  the  river  it  chooses  one  which  rises  in  a  lake, 
seldom  those  which  have  their  source  in  springs  or  smaller 
streams.  Why  the  salmon  does  this  is  not  known,  unless  it 
is  that  they  wish  to  rest  in  the  quiet  waters  of  the  lake 
while  waiting  to  lay  their  eggs.  How  the  fish  can  tell,  at 
the  place  where  the  branch  joins  the  main  stream,  what 
kind  of  source  has  given  rise  to  the  tributary,  is  a  curious 
and  unexplained  fact. 

Many  of  these  salmon  streams  have  falls  and  rapids,  but 
these  are  little  hindrance  to  the  gamy  fish.  It  is  an  interest- 
ing sight  to  see  a  thirty-  or  forty -pound  salmon  leap  up  over 
falls  sometimes  ten  or  twelve  feet  high  and  land  safely  in 
the  smooth  water  above.  So  many  of  the  salmon  streams 
have  been  obstructed  by  dams  for  manufacturing  purposes 
that  laws  have  been  passed  requiring  runs  to  be  made  which 
shall  make  the  passage  over  the  falls  easier  for  the  fish. 

In  some  small  stream  a  pair  of  salmon  select  a  spot  pos- 
sibly a  thousand  miles  from  the  ocean,  and  by  using  their 
heads  and  tails  dig  a  nest  in  the  gravel  bed.  In  this  nest 
from  two  thousand  to  six  thousand  eggs  are  laid.  Many  of 
them  are  devoured  by  some  hungry  trout,  or  carried  down- 
stream in  the  flowing  water.  The  parent  salmon  are  not 


FISHERIES 


295 


fat  and  sleek  as  they  were  when  they  started  on  their  long 
journey  up  the  river,  for  you  must  remember  they  have 
been  practically  without  food  since  leaving  the  ocean.  They 
are  much  battered  and  worn  from  their  task  of  digging  the 
nest,  and  the  female  is  weakened  from  laying  the  eggs.  Both 


FIG.  111.    SALMON  LEAPING  OVER  FALLS 
(Courtesy  of  Dr.  R.  D.  Harlan,  George  Washington  University) 

in  looks  and  actions  they  are  very  different  from  the  strong, 
handsome  fish  which  left  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  some  weeks 
or  months  before.  They  never  attempt  to  reach  the  ocean 
again,  but,  their  life  work  ended,  they  die  in  the  fresh  water. 
When  the  young  salmon  which  are  hatched  from  the  eggs 
are  yet  very  small,  less  than  an  inch  in  length,  they  begin 


296  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  journey  down  the  river,  floating  most  of  the  time  with 
their  heads  upstream,  so  that  food  will  more  easily  come  to 
their  greedy  mouths.  If  they  are  hatched  far  inland,  as  many 
are,  it  may  take  them  several  months  to  reach  the  ocean, 
-  if  indeed  they  ever  reach  it,  for  many  of  them  become 
the  prey  of  larger  fish.  Those  which  are  fortunate  enough 
to  complete  their  journey  make  their  home  not  far  from 
the  shore,  never  going  up  the  river  again  until  fully  grown 


FIG.  112.   A  FISH  TRAP 

and  ready  to  spawn,  when  they  make  their  way  into  fresh 
water,  never  to  return.  The  salmon  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
differ  in  this  respect,  it  is  said,  from  their  Atlantic  relatives, 
who  go  up  the  streams  every  year.  In  May  or  June,  when, 
fat  and  plump,  they  swarm  up  the  rivers,  the  salmon  fisher- 
men begin  to  gather  their  harvest. 

There  are  several  methods  of  catching  them.  In  the 
deeper  waters  gill-netting  is  common.  An  immense  net, 
sometimes  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  thirty  or 


FISHERIES 


297 


forty  feet  wide,  buoyed  up  on  the  surface  by  corks  on  the 
upper  edge  and  held  down  in  the  deep  water  by  weights 
on  the  lower,  is  put  across  the  path  of  the  salmon.  The 
fish  swim  into  it  and  put  their  heads  through  the  meshes, 
which  catch  behind  the  gills  and  hold  them  fast. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  113.    FISH  WHEELS  IN  COLUMBIA  RIVER,  OREGON 

Where  the  water  is  more  shallow,  salmon  may  be  caught 
either  by  trapping  or  seining.  The  traps  are  a  comparatively 
modern  device  made  on  the  principle  of  a  wire  fly  cage,  into 
which  the  unsuspecting  insect  goes,  but  from  which  his  fly 
intellect  is  not  sufficient  to  teach  him  his  way  out.  The 


298 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


traps  are  in  the  form  of  a  great  inclosure,  or  yard,  sur- 
rounded by  netting,  entered  by  a  narrow,  crooked  path ;  and, 
once  in,  the  salmon  seldom  finds  its  way  back  to  the  open 
water.  Seining  is  an  old  method  of  catching  other  fish  as 
well  as  salmon,  and  the  method  of  using  the  seine  has 


FIG.  114.    SALMON  AT  CANNERY 

already  been  described  in  the  story  of  the  cod  and  mackerel 
fisheries. 

The  fish  wheel  is  a  curious  method  of  catching  salmon 
in  parts  of  the  river  where  the  current  is  swift.  A  broad 
wheel,  with  wire  nets  like  baskets  fastened  to  its  rim,  is 
attached  to  the  end  of  a  boat  or  pier.  As  the  wheel  is 
turned  by  the  current,  the  nets  enter  the  water  one  after 
another,  and  the  fish  are  caught  in  them.  As  the  wheel  re- 
volves, lifting  the  net  with  it,  the  fish  are  turned  out  into 


FISHERIES  299 

a  kind  of  trough.  In  a  sail  up  the  Columbia,  many  of  these 
fish  wheels  may  be  seen  on  either  side  of  the  river,  and 
many  tons  of  fish  are  caught  in  this  way  in  a  single  day, 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  115.   BUTCHERING  SALMON 
Interior  of  salmon-canning  establishment,  Astoria,  Oregon 

one  "  fish  story  "  stating  that  in  twelve  hours  enough  were 
caught  to  sink  the  boat. 

The  canning  of  salmon  has  reached  a  degree  of  speed  and 
science  which  is  truly  marvelous.  Some  of  the  canneries 
of  Astoria,  Washington,  a  town  famous  for  this  industry, 
are  situated  directly  over  the  water.  The  salmon  are  first 


300 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


cleaned,  then  by  sharp  knives  run  by  machinery  are  cut 
into  lengths  suitable  for  canning.  In  the  modern  estab- 
lishments the  cans  are  then  filled  by  machinery  which 
seems  almost  human  in  its  mechanism.  One  part  of  the 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 


FIG.  116.    FILLING  CANS 
Interior  of  salmon-canning  establishment,  Astoria,  Oregon 

machine  holds  the  fish  and  the  other  crowds  it  into  the  cans. 
Then  they  roll  on  their  way  through  the  factory,  into  the 
cooking  room,  and  through  different  processes,  until  they 
finally  roll  themselves  into  the  labels  and  are  ready  to  be 
sent  away  to  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world. 


FISHERIES 


301 


Salmon  are  found  only  in  the  cool  waters  of  the  north 
temperate  zone.  The  industry  is  carried  on  iii  both  the 
North  Atlantic  and  the  North  Pacific  oceans,  but  the  greater 
numbers  and  the  largest,  finest  varieties  are  found  in  the 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  117.    SHIPPING  DEPARTMENT  OF  A  SALMON-CANNING 
ESTABLISHMENT,  ASTORIA,  OREGON 

Pacific.  The  annual  catch  of  the  western  coast  states  and 
Alaska  is  more  than  one  hundred  million  pounds.  In  colo- 
nial times  salmon  were  very  plentiful  in  New  England 
streams.  The  Merrimac  River  is  reported  to  have  been  so 
filled  with  them  during  the  spring  migration  from  salt  water 


302 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


that  they  were  often  crowded  out  of  the  water  upon  the  dry 
banks.    The  damming  of  the  mill  streams  and  overfishing 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  118.    OYSTER  TONGER  FISHING  FROM  SIDE  OF  THE  BOAT 
CHESAPEAKE  BAY 

are  the  causes  which  have  led  to  the  extermination  of  the 
salmon  and  other  fish  in  many  of  our  eastern  rivers. 


OYSTERS 

Our  next  visit  will  be  to  Maryland,  for  the  most  extensive 
oyster  fisheries  in  the  world  are  found  in  Chesapeake  Bay. 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  the  oyster  industry  is 
carried  on :  obtaining  the  oyster  from  its  natural  beds, 
oyster  planting,  and  oyster  farming.  If  the  first  method 


FISHERIES 


303 


were  the  only  one  in  use,  the  oyster  would  soon  be  a  deli- 
cacy of  the  past,  as  few  would  be  left  to  lay  the  eggs  to 
produce  another  generation.  Less  than  half  of  our  supply 
is  obtained  in  this  way.  Artificial  raising  is  necessary  to 


FIG. 119. 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

'BOARDING"  THE  TONGS  IN  CHESAPEAKE  BAY 


supply  the  demand,  which  is  steadily  increasing.  The  most 
simple  means  of  keeping  the  stock  plentiful  is  by  planting, 
and  in  order  to  understand  this  we  must  know  something 
of  the  life  of  the  young  oyster. 

Oysters  lay  many  eggs,  from  which  millions  of  young  ones 
are  produced.  Unless  conditions  are  very  favorable,  only  a 
small  fraction  of  these  live  to  be  three  years  old,  at  which  age 
they  are  considered  to  be  in  the  best  condition  for  the  table. 

When  the  eggs  are  first  hatched,  the  oyster  is  so  small  as 
to  be  invisible  to  the  naked  eye.  Millions  of  these  swim 


304 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


in  the  water,  but  many  of  them  fall  a  prey  to  the  gaping 
jaws  of  some  fish  swimming  past,  are  smothered  in  mud,  or 
chilled  by  a  cold  current.  When  about  two  weeks  old  and 
perhaps  only  one  fifteenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  they 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  120.    DREDGERS  USED  IN  SAILING  CRAFT,  BALTIMORE 
MARYLAND 

search  for  some  hard,  clean  surface  in  the  depths  of  the 
water  on  which  to  fasten  themselves  for  a  permanent  home. 
Oysters  are  never  found  on  a  muddy  bottom ;  so  long  as 
the  surface  is*  hard  it  matters  little  what  the  material  is, 
whether  rock  or  shells  or  other  substance.  Here  the  oyster, 
firmly  fastened  to  the  clean  surface,  lives  out  its  span  of  life. 


FISHERIES 


305 


Oyster  planting  consists  simply  in  placing  the  young 
oysters  upon  bottoms  favorable  to  their  growth.  If  left  to 
themselves  they  fasten  so  thickly  upon  the  hard  surface 
selected  that  many  have  no  room  to  grow.  In  planting 
they  are  dropped  into  the  water  at  the  selected  spot,  just 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  121.    "  SHUCKING"  OYSTERS,  OYSTER  HOUSE,  BALTIMORE 
MARYLAND 

at  the  period  when  they  are  ready  to  settle  dow^n.  Care  is 
taken  to  scatter  them  so  that  all  may  have  a  chance  for 
development. 

An  oyster  .farm  is  more  complicated.  Here  they  are 
reared  from  eggs,  and  every  precaution  is  taken  that  all  con- 
ditions of  temperature  and  purity  of  water  may  be  favorable, 


306 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


thus  increasing  the  number  which  live  and  thrive  to  a  much 
greater  proportion  than  where  natural  conditions  prevail. 

Oyster  farming   is  carried  on  near  New  York,  on  the 
shores  of  Long  Island,   in  Connecticut.    The  getting  of 


Copyright,  Keystone  View  Co. 

FIG.  122.    WASTE-SHELL  PILES  AT  OYSTER  HOUSE,  BALTIMORE 
MARYLAND 

oysters  from  natural  beds,  and  the  planting,  are  the  two 
methods  which  prevail  in  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Oysters  are  usually  taken  by  tongs.  A  pair  of  these  with 
very  long  handles  is  lowered  with  the  jaws  open.  When 
the  bed  is  reached,  the  jaws  are  closed  and  the  tongs  lifted 
with  their  load.  In  deeper  water,  dredging  is  common, 


FISHERIES  307 

though  by  this  method  many  oysters  are  destroyed.  The 
dredge  is  a  sort  of  rake  which  is  dragged  over  the  beds, 
pulling  the  oysters  loose  from  the  surface  to  which  they 
are  fastened.  In  order  to  preserve  her  oyster  fisheries, 
which  are  so  important  as  to  engage  more  than  a  thousand 
vessels,  the  state  of  Maryland  has  passed  laws  regulating 
dredging. 

Baltimore  and  Norfolk  ship  large  quantities  of  oysters  to 
northern  and  western  cities.  Some  are  sent  away  in  the 
shell,  some  in  kegs  holding  the  oysters  removed  from  the 
shell,  and  some  in  cans. 

WHALE  FISHING 

If  we  are  to  embark  upon  a  whaling  voyage,  we  must 
prepare  for  a  much  longer  trip  than  we  have  hitherto  taken. 
We  shall  be  gone  for  many  months,  perhaps  years,  before 
returning  to  the  home  port.  In  New  Bedford,  on  the  Massa- 
chusetts coast,  or  far  across  the  country  in  San  Francisco, 
we  shall  find  vessels  which  will  take  us  to  the  whaling 
grounds.  If  we  go  to  the  cold  Arctic  seas,  we  shall  find  the 
right  whale,  from  which  whalebone  is  obtained.  If  we  wish 
quantities  of  sperm  oil,  then  we  must  go  to  the  warm 
Indian  Ocean,  where  the  sperm  whale  lives. 

Most  of  the  whaling  from  San  Francisco  is  now  done  in 
modern  steam  vessels  supplied  with  cannon  which  shoot  the 
harpoon  into  the  whale.  We  will  accompany  such  a  vessel 
on  its  long  voyage  to  the  region  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mac- 
kenzie River,  in  which  vicinity  much  whalebone  is  obtained. 
If  the  whales  are  plentiful  and  easily  caught,  we  shall  be 
able  to  get  back  into  warmer  waters  before  the  long  Arctic 


308  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

winter  begins  ;  otherwise  we  must  remain  penned  in  by  the 
ice  during  the  cold,  dark,  winter  months. 

The  whale,  you  understand,  is  not  a  fish,  and  being  with- 
out gills  is  not  able  to  breathe  under  water  as  a  fish  does 
but  is  obliged  to  come  to  the  surface  for  air.  Its  blow- 
holes, or  nostrils,  are  on  the  top  of  its  head,  and  the  first 
indication  of  its  presence  which  comes  to  the  sailor  on  the 


FIG.  123.    CAPTURE  OF  A  SPERM  WHALE 

watch  is  the  spouting  from  these  holes  of  a  tall  column  of 
water,  sometimes  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  whaling,  and  to  some  extent  at  the 
present  time,  when  the  lookout  reported  that  a  whale  was 
in  sight,  boats  put  out  from  the  ship  and  carefully  ap- 
proached the  unsuspecting  giant  until  near  enough  for  the 
harpoon  to  be  thrown.  To  it  is  attached  a  half  mile  or  moiv 
of  rope  which  is  paid  out  swiftly  if  the  whale  swims  away, 
and  sometimes  cut  if  he  dives,  for,  as  the  creature  often 


FISHERIES  309 

goes  down  to  great  depths,  the  boat  and  its  crew  may  be 
in  danger  of  being  carried  under  the  water.  This  method 
of  whaling  is  much  more  dangerous  than  the  modern  one 
of  shooting  the  harpoon  from  the  vessel,  as  the  wounded 
whale  may  turn  furiously  upon  the  small  boat  and  com- 
pletely wreck  it  with  one  sweep  of  his  large  tail. 


FIG.  124.    SPERM  WHALING  OFF  THE  HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS 

The  whale,  when  dead,  is  fastened  to  the  ship's  side  and 
the  work  of  cutting  off  the  blubber  or  fat  begins.  Huge 
strips,  sometimes  weighing  several  hundred  pounds,  are 
hoisted  on  board.  These  are  cut  into  smaller  pieces  and 
subdivided  until  of  a  size  more  convenient  to  handle.  These 
are  put  into  huge  kettles  and  the  oil  is  tried  out.  One  whale 
will  make  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  barrels  of  oil,  according 
to  its  size. 


310 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Another  product  which  is  very  valuable  is  the  whalebone. 
This  is  not  bone  at  all,  but  is  a  substance  found  in  the 
mouth  of  the  right  whale.  It  hangs  from  the  top  of  the 
mouth  in  huge  sheets  ten  to  twelve  feet  long,  which  are 
fringed  or  split  toward  the  ends.  These  serve  as  a  sort  of 
screen  to  strain  the  food.  The  whale,  though  having  a 

mouth  so  huge  that  half  a 
dozen  people  might  stand  in 
it,  has  a  very  small  throat. 
It  lives  upon  lish  that  it  can 
easily  swallow.  Quantities 
of  these  are  taken  at  one 
time  into  its  mouth,  together 
with  barrels  of  water.  In  this 
great  opening  the  fish  are 
entangled  in  the  meshes  of 
the  whalebone  ;  the  water  is 
forced  out  of  the  mouth, 
without  allowing  the  fish  to 
escape,  and  they  are  then 
swallowed  at  leisure.  An 
idea  of  the  size  of  the  whale's 
mouth  may  be  obtained  from 
the  fact  that  the  tongue  alone 
may  yield  from  ten  to  fifteen 
barrels  of  oil. 

New  Bedford  was  formerly  the  most  important  center 
for  this  industry  ;  but  now  more  whaling  is  carried  on  from 
our  Pacific  coast.  In  one  year  twenty  vessels  sailed  from 
San  Francisco  to  the  whaling  grounds.  Six  of  these  vessels 
were  owned  in  New  Bedford.  The  fleet  caught  one  hundred 


FIG.  125.    ARCTIC  WHALEBONE 

READY  FOR  MARKET 


FISHERIES  311 

and  sixty-nine  whales,  of  which  nineteen  were  bowheads,  a 
kind  of  right  whale,  five  were  right  whales,  and  one  hundred 
and  forty-five  were  sperm  whales.  These  were  all  secured 
by  fourteen  vessels,  the  remainder  of  the  fleet  having 
been  obliged  to  return  without  any  catch.  The  fleet 
brought  in  nearly  thirty-seven  thousand  pounds  of  whale- 
bone. This  was  taken  from  the  nineteen  bowheads  and  the 
five  right  whales,  as  no  whalebone  is  found  in  the  mouth 
of  the  sperm  whale.  Twenty  thousand  gallons  of  whale  oil 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  gallons  of  sperm  oil 
were  obtained  from  the  monsters. 

LOBSTERS 

If  we  are  to  find  out  something  about  the  catching  of 
lobsters,  let  us  go  to  the  Maine  coast,  for  it  is  there  that 
they  are  obtained  in  the  greatest  numbers.  The  lobster  is 
a  scavenger,  a  cleaner.  It  picks  up  scraps,  as  well  as  crabs 
and  clams,  and  makes  the  water  and  air  both  purer  for  its 
presence.  In  the  winter  it  goes  out  into  deeper  water  and 
the  fishing  during  the  cold  season  is  therefore  carried  on 
farther  from  land  than  in  summer.  After  boiling,  lobsters 
are  as  you  know  of  a  bright  red  color,  but  when  alive  they 
are  -blackish  green.  The  shell  does  not  grow  large  with  age, 
and  therefore  as  the  lobster  grows  it  has  to  change  its 
coat  very  often.  This  happens  many  times  during  the  first 
year  of  its  life,  but  less  and  less  often  after  that,  as  it 
grows  more  slowly.  The  shell  cracks  open  along  the  back 
and  the  lobster  draws  out  its  claws  from  their  cases.  After 
emerging  from  the  hard  covering  which  has  protected  it,  it 
is  a  soft,  defenseless  creature,  which  hides  under  rocks  and 
in  sand  until  its  shell  grows  again. 


312  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

The  lobster  is  caught  chiefly  in  wooden  pots  about  four 
feet  long,  shaped  like  a  half  cylinder.  Nets  with  an  open- 
ing in  the  center  are  stretched  across  each  end  so  the  lobster 
can  crawl  in,  attracted  by  the  bait  which  is  hung  in  the 
middle  ;  but,  once  in,  it  is  not  intelligent  enough  to  find  its 
way  out.  Sometimes  many  of  these  pots,  fastened  to  one 
line,  are  dropped  into  the  ocean  and  are  not  visited  for  two 
or  three  days.  If  nearer  shore,  they  are  emptied  every  day 
or  oftener.  When  the  lobsters  are  taken  out  of  the  pots, 
they  are  measured.  All  short  ones  should  be  returned 
to  the  water,  for,  on  account  of  the  growing  scarcity,  very 
strict  laws  have  been  made,  and  persons  keeping  the  small 
lobsters  are  fined. 

If  not  sent  to  market  immediately,  they  are  put  into  a 
car — a  contrivance  made  of  plank  or  of  an  old  boat  —  and 
kept  in  the  water  near  the  shore.  If  properly  fed  and  not 
overcrowded  they  may  be  preserved  alive  in  these  cars  for 
a  long  time. 

The  Fish  Commission,  a  department  of  the  government 
which  will  be  spoken  of  later,  is  doing  an  important  work 
in  making  possible  the  artificial  hatching  of  lobsters.  This 
work  requires  much  care,  for  the  young  are  sensitive  and 
will  not  survive  unless  conditions  are  favorable.  The  area 
where  the  lobster  is  found  is  limited  to  our  eastern  waters, 
stretching  northward  from  Chesapeake  Bay.  None  are  found 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  The  Commission  has  endeavored,  thus 
far  with  no  great  success,  to  introduce  it  into  new  waters. 
Very  valuable  work  has  been  done,  however,  in  keeping  the 
supply  more  plentiful.  The  demand  has  been  so  great  in  the 
past  few  years  that  the  price  has  risen  in  consequence,  iind 
to-day  lobsters  are  one  of  the  most  expensive,  articles  of 


FISHERIES  313 

ocean  food.  Their  growing  scarcity  has  caused  the  Fish 
Commission  to  double  its  efforts  to  increase  the  supply. 
The  artificial  hatching  of  lobsters  and  the  strict  laws  in 
regard  to  catching  the  small  ones  have  probably  prevented 
the  industry  from  entirely  dying  out. 

SEALING 

West  of  Alaska,  far  out  in  Bering  Sea,  are  five  small 
islands,  lone,  desolate,  volcanic  rocks,  of  which  few  people 
would  ever  know  were  it  not  for  their  numerous  summer 
residents.  In  May  and  June  thousands  and  thousands  of 
seals  swim  into  Bering  Sea,  and  take  up  their  residence  for 
the  next  few  months  on  these  lonely  Pribilof  Islands. 

The  male  seals  arrive  first,  fat,  sleek  fellows  weighing 
from  four  to  five  hundred  pounds  apiece.  Fierce  fights  take 
place  as  they  clamber  up  on  the  shore,  each  one  trying  to 
seize  upon  the  best  spot  for  his  mate,  whom  he  selected 
before  migration.  In  a  short  time  the  females  arrive  and 
each  one  picks  out  her  own  lord  and  master.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  days  the  baby  seals  are  born,  soft,  helpless 
creatures,  with  large,  expressive  dark  eyes  and  a  pitiful 
little  call  that  sounds  like  the  cry  of  a  baby.  The  mothers 
often  swim  off  many  miles  from  land  to  search  for  food, 
and  return  at  intervals  to  feed  the  babies,  but  the  father 
seal  never  leaves  the  home.  Since  his  arrival  there  in  early 
May  he  has  eaten  nothing,  nor  once  been  out  into  the  water, 
but  in  August  he  leaves  the  island  for  the  deep  ocean 
where  he  can  find  plenty  of  food.  There  he  will  live  until 
the  next  spring,  when  he  will  migrate  to  his  summer  quar- 
ters again.  The  mothers  and  the  young  seals  remain  on 
the  island  for  some  months  longer.  The  little  seals  play  on 


314  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

the  shore,  and  gradually  venture  into  the  water,  where  they 
soon  learn  to  swim.  In  November  they  all  go  south  to 
stay  until  the  next  summer. 

The  seal  colony  includes  also  the  young  male  seals  who 
are  not  large  and  strong  enough  to  find  a  place  to  live  with 
the  others.  So  thousands  of  these  bachelor  brothers  live 
in  colonies  by  themselves,  and  these  are  the  ones  which  are 
killed  for  their  fur. 

The  men  engaged  in  this  work  manage  during  the  night 
to  get  between  the  sleeping  seals  and  the  water.  In  the 
morning  they  drive  the  frightened,  bewildered  creatures,  in 
herds  of  a  thousand  or  more,  farther  inland.  They  are 
stunned  by  being  struck  on  the  head  with  a  club,  and  then 
quickly  killed  with  a  sharp  knife.  No  gun  is  used,  as  the 
shot  would  injure  the  fur.  Other  men  skin  the  animals  and 
salt  the  skins.  These  are  then  shipped  away  to  be  dressed, 
most  of  them  going  to  London.  In  the  finishing  process 
they  are  changed  from  rough  hides  to  soft,  flexible  skin  such 
as  you  see  in  coats,  hats,  and  muffs. 

The  United  States  government  has  granted  to  one  com- 
pany the  right  to  catch  seals  on  the  Pribilof  Islands.  For 
this  privilege  it  pays  the  government  ten  dollars  for  every 
skin  taken.  Years  ago  the  seals  were  so  much  more  numer- 
ous that  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  were  killed  on 
the  islands  in  one  season.  Now  less  than  twenty  thousand 
are  slaughtered  in  that  time. 

From  what  we  have  said  thus  far  about  the  killing  of 
seals,  you  can  probably  see  no  reason  why  they  should  be 
growing  fewer  in  number  each  year,  for  by  the  method  de- 
scribed only  the  bachelor  seals  are  killed,  while  the  mothers 
and  fathers  are  allowed  to  come  to  the  rocks  every  summer 


FISHERIES  315 

and  raise  their  families  in  peace.  If  the  bachelor  seals  were 
the  only  ones  killed,  there  would  be  no  need  of  the  discus- 
sions which  have  been  held  in  our  country  and  England 
during  the  past  few  years  concerning  the  seal  fisheries  and 
what  should  be  done  to  protect  them. 

But  there  are  many  sailors,  Canadians  and  Japanese 
especially,  who  have  engaged  in  catching  seals  in  the  open 
ocean,  when  they  are  migrating  to  or  from  their  summer 
home.  These  sailors  shoot  the  seals  from  boats  which  put 
out  from  the  vessel.  Of  course,  by  this  method  it  is  im- 
possible to  tell  whether  it  is  a  male  or  a  female  which  is 
killed.  More  often  it  is  the  latter,  as  she  swims  more  slowly 
than  the  male.  It  is  nearly  always  the  mother  which  is 
taken  by  vessels  entering  Bering  Sea  in  the  summer,  for 
you  remember  that  the  male  seal  never  leaves  the  island 
until  he  swims  south  to  his  winter  home.  For  every  mother 
killed  in  this  way  there  is  a  baby  seal  left  on  the  island  to 
starve. 

Since  many  people  of  Canada,  which  is  a  colony  of  Eng- 
land, are  engaged  in  this  ocean  sealing,  our  country  and 
England  have  tried  to  come  to  some  agreement  by  means 
of  which  this  unwise  slaughtering  may  be  stopped  and  the 
seal  colony  may  be  allowed  to  increase  in  numbers.  If  per- 
sisted in,  the  seals  of  the  north  will,  in  a  few  years,  be  al- 
most wholly  exterminated,  as  they  have  been  in  the  southern 
oceans.  The  closing  of  the  whole  of  Bering  Sea  to  sealing 
vessels  during  the  summer  months,  and  allowing  only  the 
young  males  on  the  islands  to  be  slaughtered,  would  prob- 
ably remedy  the  evil.  But  if  this  is  not  done  soon,  the 
industry  will  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  as  fewer  and 
fewer  seals  are  left  each  year  to  visit  the  islands. 


316  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  FISH  COMMISSION 

Many  of  the  chief  food  fish  were  formerly  much  more 
plentiful  than  at  the  present  time.  In  some  waters,  fish 
that  in  the  early  history  of  our  country  formed  an  impor- 
tant food  for  the  settler  have  now  entirely  disappeared. 
This  is  due  to  several  causes,  one  of  the  greatest  of  which 
is  the  carelessness  and  greed  of  some  fishermen,  who  are  so 
anxious  to  secure  a  good  catch  that  not  enough  fish  are 
left  to  replenish  the  stock.  To  overcome  this  difficulty  and 
to  preserve  our  fisheries,  the  governments  of  some  of  the 
states  and  of  the  United  States  have  established  fish  (com- 
missions which  are  doing  a  valuable  work. 

As  an  example  of  what  the  United  States  Fish  Com- 
mission is  accomplishing,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
industry  in  the  Great  Lakes.  Herring,  whitefish,  and  trout 
are  the  three  most  important  fish,  commercially  considered, 
which  are  found  in  these  waters,  and  these  are  the  ones 
most  likely  to  be  exterminated.  The  danger  comes  princi- 
pally from  three  causes :  overfishing,  the  use  of  nets  with 
too  fine  meshes  which  catch  the  smaller  fish,  and  fishing 
during  the  spawning  season.  The  yield  of  trout  in  1893 
was  three  and  one  half  million  pounds.  In  five  years  it 
decreased  to  less  than  two  million  pounds.  The  number  of 
whitefish  caught  also  lessened  rapidly  from  year  to  year. 

Trout  and  whitefish  spawn  in  the  early  autumn.  Both 
fish  lay  an  immense  number  of  eggs,  a  trout  averaging  five 
or  six  thousand  and  a  whitefish  more.  Many  of  these  eggs 
are  destroyed,  but  billions  develop  into  tiny  fish.  At  Duluth 
is  a  fish  hatchery,  one  of  the  many  carried  on  under  direc- 
tion of  the  Fish  Commission  of  the  United  States.  The 


FISHERIES  317 

work  of  the  men  in  charge  of  the  hatching  begins  with  the 
collecting  of  eggs.  Sometimes  the  fish  are  gathered  at 
spawning  time  into  pens,  where  the  eggs  are  taken  from 
them.  Sometimes  the  men  go  out  in  boats  to  places  fre- 
quented by  the  fish,  and  obtain  the  eggs  there. 

Frequently  millions  of  these  eggs  are  shipped  to  other 
countries  to  stock  waters  where  the  supply  of  fish  is  de- 
creasing, or  to  introduce  them  to  new  waters.  Eggs  from 
the  government  hatcheries  have  been  sent  to  Mexico,  South 
America,  and  even  to  far-away  Japan,  and  successfully 
hatched  there. 

This  work  requires  the  greatest  care,  for  any  change  in 
the  temperature,  in  the  kind  of  water  required,  or  in  any  one 
of  the  many  conditions  which  contribute  to  the  successful 
hatching  of  the  eggs  would  cause  complete  failure.  After 
the  eggs  are  hatched,  great  care  is  taken  of  the  young  fish. 
They  must  be  kept  in  water  never  too  warm  nor  too  cold, 
and  given  just  the  right  kind  of  food,  so  that  they  may  be 
as  strong  and  vigorous  as  possible.  When  able  to  care  for 
themselves  and  to  obtain  their  food  from  the  water,  they 
are  carried  to  the  place  for  which  they  were  designed,  and 
left  to  finish  their  life  in  their  own  way. 

Numbers  are  not  very  interesting,  but  they  may  serve  to 
tell  us  something  of  the  extent  of  the  work  done  by  the  Fish 
Commission  in  the  Great  Lakes  alone.  As  many  as  nine- 
teen million  trout  and  three  hundred  and  twenty -six  million 
whitefish  were  put  into  the  water  in  one  season.  Even  if 
only  a  small  proportion  live,  the  value  of  the  work  is  great. 


318  INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 

TOPICS  FOB  STUDY 
I 

1.  A  visit  to  Gloucester. 

2.  A  trip  to  the  banks  of  Newfoundland. 

3.  Methods  of  catching  and  preserving  cod  and  mackerel. 

4.  Fishing  regions  of  the  world. 

5.  Uses  to  which  different  parts  of  fish  are  put. 

6.  Salmon  fishing. 

7.  Oyster  fishing. 

8.  Whaling. 

9.  Lobster  fishing. 

10.  Sealing. 

11.  Work  of  the  Fish  Commission. 


II 

1.  Do  the  following  problems  concerning  the  catch  of  the  whaling 
fleet  during  the  year  referred  to  in  this  chapter. 

2.  The  value  of  whalebone  is  about  five  dollars  a  pound,  of  whale 
oil  thirty-eight  cents  a  gallon,  and  of  sperm  oil  fifty  cents  a  gallon. 
Find  the  average  number  of  pounds  of  whalebone  to  each  whale ; 
the  average  number  of  gallons  of  whale  oil  obtained  from  each  right 
whale ;  the  average  number  of  gallons  of  sperm  oil  obtained  from 
each  sperm  whale.   Ascertain  the  value  of  the  whalebone,  also  of  the 
oil,  and  the  total  value  of  the  whaling  industry  for  the  year. 

3.  Make  a. list  of  articles  that  must  be  taken  on  a  fishing  cruise. 

4.  What  information  did  you  get  in  Chapter  IV  which  relates  to 
fishing? 

5.  Explain  the  fogs  around  Newfoundland. 

6.  Write  the  life  story  of  a  salmon. 

7.  Read  Rudyard  Kipling's  fishing  story,  «  Captains  Courageous." 


Ill 

Be  able  to  spell  and  pronounce  the  following  names.  Locate  each 
place  and  tell  what  is  said  of  it  in  this  chapter  and  in  any  previous 
chapter.  Describe  the  method  of  fishing  suggested  by  each  topic. 


FISHERIES 


319 


Boston 

Gloucester 

Marblehead 

Astoria 

Duluth 

New  Bedford 

San  Francisco 

Baltimore 

Norfolk 

Newfoundland 
Nova  Scotia 
Cuba 

Porto  Rico 
Japan 


China 
France 

Washington 

Oregon 

Alaska 

Mexico 

California 

Maryland 

New  York 

Connecticut 

Maine 

Arctic  Current 
Gulf  Stream 


North  Sea 
Merrimac  River 
Columbia  River 
Great  Lakes 
Chesapeake  Bay 
Long  Island  Sound 
Hudson  Bay 

seining 

trawling 

gill-netting 

trapping 

tonging 

dredging 


GENERAL  REVIEW 

1.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  cities  mentioned  in  this  book.    About  how 
many  can  you  tell  some  fact  ?    How  many  can  you  locate  ? 

2.  Name  all  the  countries  mentioned.    Locate  them  and  tell  in 
which  industry  they  were  spoken  of. 

3.  In  how  many  of  the  industries  have  you  learned  of  help  given 
by. the  United  States  government? 

4.  What  articles  are  manufactured  from  so-called  waste  products  ? 

5.  On  an  outline  map,  trace  all  water  routes  mentioned  in  this  book. 

6.  Sketch  routes  of  all  the  railroads. 

7.  What  different  maps  have  you  learned  to  draw  ? 


INDEX 


Adirondack  Mountains,  part  of 
Appalachian  System,  15;  iron 
deposits,  168 

Africa,  American-made  locomo- 
tives in,  181 ;  gold  and  diamonds 
in,  201  ;  sheep  industry,  248 ; 
angora  goat  in,  250 
Alabama,  cotton  industry,  61  ; 
peach  area,  102 ;  coal  area,  157 ; 
iron  deposits,  168 
Alaska,  effect  of  discovery  of  gold, 
184;  purchase  from  Russia,  194; 
value  to  United  States,  194,  195 ; 
rank  in  output  of  gold,  202; 
salmon  industry,  301 ;  sealing, 
313-315 

Albany,  terminus  of  Erie  Canal,  43 

Alcohol,  manufacture  of,  133,  134 

Alfalfa,  on  cattle  ranches,  216,  217; 

in  dairying  regions,  226 ;  on  sheep 

ranches,  235 

Allegheny,  plateau,  16,  18;   river, 

traffic  on,  176 
Almonds,  in  California,  84 
Alpaca,  use  of  wool,  249,  250 
Amalgamated    Copper    Company, 

206 

Andes  Mountains,  Continuation  of 
Rocky  Mountain  System,  21 ; 
alpaca,  249,  250 

Androscoggin  River,  lumbering  in- 
dustry, 273 

Angora  goats,  use  of  wool,  250 

Aniline  dyes,  manufacture  of,  164 

Appalachian   Mountains,   mineral 

products,  5 ;  appearance,  11 ;  map 

showing  divisions,  12 ;  extent,  15 ; 

divisions,   15,  16;  highest  peak, 

15;   contrast  with  Rockies,   15, 

20 ;  barrier  to  early  colonists,  16 ; 

routes  through,  16-18;  drainage 


of,  17, 18 ;  railroads  crossing,  18  ; 
products  of,  19;  coal  fields,  157; 
coal  and  iron  deposits,  160 ;  iron 
deposits,  168 

Apples,  eastern  area,  83 ;  where  na- 
tive, 103  ;   areas  of  production, 
quantity     produced,    103,    104; 
nurseries  for,  104  ;  uses  of,  104 ; 
coreless,  104,  105 
Apricots,  in  California,  84 
Arab,  use  of  camel,  231 
Arbor  Day,  observance  of,  283-284 
Arctic  Ocean,  formerly  connected 

with  Gulf  of  Mexico,  41 
Argentina,  wheat  production,  119, 
120 ;  rivers,  120 ;  cattle  industry, 
225-226 ;  the  Pampas,  226 ;  wool 
exports,  245 ;  sheep  industry,  247, 
248 

Arizona,  rank  in  gold  output,  202 
Arkansas,  river,  26;  cotton  indus- 
try, 61 

Ashtabula,  canal  from,  44 
Asia,  routes  to,  5;  distance  from 
United  States,  8 ;  effects  of  Pan- 
ama Canal  on  routes,  46;  route 
from  Chicago,  47 ;  early  home  of 
apple,  103;  gold  deposits,  201; 
sheep  of,  233 

Astoria,  salmon  canning,  299 
Atlanta,  lumber  industry,  276 
Atlantic,    width   of,   8;    furnishes 
moisture,  36 ;  ports  of,  273 ;  fish- 
ing  industry,    293 ;    salmon   of, 
296,  301 

Auburn,  lumber  market,  273 
Augusta,  lumber  market,  273 
Australia,  wheat  industry,  120;  ef- 
fect of   discovery  of  gold,  184 ; 
gold  in,  201 ;  wool  exports,  245 ; 
sheep  industry,  246,  247,  248 


321 


322 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Austria-Hungary,  beet  sugar,  74 ; 
apples,  103 ;  wheat,  120  ;  corn, 
135;  iron  trade  with  Germany, 
182 

Ayrshire  cattle,  227 

Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  181 
Baltimore,1   sugar    refineries,    71  ; 
canning  fruit  and  vegetables,  83 ; 
iron  industry,  180-181  ;    oyster 
market,  307 
Bamboo,  uses  of,  280 
Bananas,  in  Florida,  83,  89 
Bangor,  lumber  market,  273 
Banks   of   Newfoundland,   forma- 
tion, fishing  on,  289 
Barley,  in  Mississippi  Valley,  127 
Bath,  lumber  market,  273 
Beef,  shipping,  221  ;  exports,  223  ; 
extract,  223, 225, 226 ;  from  South 
America,  225 

Beet  sugar,  history,  73 ;  United 
States  product,  rank  of  foreign 
countries,  74;  raising  beets,  74- 
75;  manufacture  of,  location  of 
factories,  75 

Beets,  for  sugar,  74,  75,  76 
Belgium,  use  of  cottonseed  oil  in, 

59 ;  coal  in,  161 
Belted  Dutch  cattle,  227 
Benzine,  manufacture  of,  163 
Bering  Sea,  sealing  in,  313-315 
Bessemer  process  of  steel  manufac- 
ture, 179 
Bethlehem,  270 
Birmingham,  industrial  center,  160- 

161 ;  iron  manufacturing,  180 
Black  River,  lumbering  on,  260 
Blast  furnace,  described,  176-177 
Blue  Grass  Region,  41 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  15,  18 
Boots  and  shoes,  manufacture  of, 

224 

Borax,  product  of  desert,  25 
Boston,  water  route  to  the  Gulf, 
45,  46 ;  sugar  refineries,  71 ;  wool 
market,  242 
Branding,  method  of,  213-214;  use 

of,  stealing  brands,  215 
Ura/.il,  rubber  industry,  271) 


Bricks,  13 

British  Columbia,  terminus  of 
Grand  Trunk  Pacific  R.  R., 
117 

Brockton,  shoe  manufacturing,  224 

Brooklyn,  sugar  refineries,  71 

Brooms,  made  from  corn,  136 

Buenos  Aires,  shipping  port,  120; 
packing  center,  225 ;  frozen-meat 
plant,  248 

Buffalo,  distance  to  Chicago  com- 
pared with  Los  Angeles  aque- 
duct, 38 ;  terminus  of  Erie  Canal, 
43;  coal  used  in,  160;  iron  manu- 
facturing in,  180 

Buffalo,  use  to  people  of  India,  231 

Burbank,  Luther,  82 

Bureau  of  Forestry,  work  in  pre- 
serving forests,  282,  283 

Butte,  silver  mines,  206 

Butter,  amount  manufactured,  228 ; 
manufacturing,  228-229 

Butterine,  use  in  Europe,  224 

Buttons,  manufacture  of,  224 

Buzzards  Bay,  canal,  45 

Cactus,  supplanted  by  crops,  25; 
in  Death  Valley,  32;  picture  of 
varieties,  38 ;  fruit  of,  improve- 
ment of,  83 

Calaveras  Grove,  in  California,  270 

Calfskins,  imported  from  Russia, 
224 

California,  23,  26,  32,  34,  35  ;  pic- 
ture of  winter  scene,  33  ;  beet 
sugar  industry,  75 ;  Luther  Bur- 
bank's  work,  82  ;  fruit  farms, 
84 ;  oranges,  86 ;  climate,  87-88 ; 
lemons,  89 ;  Japanese  in,  90 ; 
grapes,  91-96;  olives,  97-91); 
prunes.  99-102 ;  peaches,  102- 
103;  wheat,  109,  116;  influence 
of  discovery  of  gold,  dangers  to 
gold  seekers,  184;  discovery  of 
gold,  195-196  ;  methods  of  min- 
ing, 196-200;  rank  in  gold  out- 
put, 202;  lumbering,  270-272 

Camel,  use  to  Arab,  231;  hair,  for 
cloth,  250-251 

Camphor  industry  in  Japan,  280 


INDEX 


323 


Canada,  apple  product,  103 ;  wheat, 
116-117, 120, 122 ;  Klondike,  188 ; 
gold,  201 ;  silver,  207 ;  ranching 
area,  210;  sheep  ranching,  239; 
lumbering,  265,  273 ;  fishing,  289 ; 
sealing,  314 

Canal,  Erie,  43;   uSoo,"  44,   173, 

174 ;    Suez,    44 ;    Ashtabula    to 

.     Pittsburg,  44;  Sandwich,  Mass., 

to  Buzzards  Bay,  45;  Panama, 

46,  47 

Canon,  21 ;  Colorado  Canon,  27 
Cape  Colony,  grapes  and  wine,  96 ; 

gold  and  diamonds,  201 
Cape  Hatteras,  boundary  of  fishing 

area,  293 

Cape  Horn,  route  around,  195 
Cape  Nome,  discovery  of  gold,  191 
Cape   Race,   boundary   of   fishing 

area,  293 
Carboniferous  age,  described,  147- 

149 

Carolinas,  lumbering,  268 
Carpets,  manufacture  of,  244 
Cascade  Mountains,  origin  of  name, 

23 ;  valley  of,  26 
Cashmere  goat,  wool  used  for  cloth, 

249 

Catskill  Mountains,  formation,  16 
Cattle,  ranches,  37 ;  use  of  cotton- 
seed meal  for,  59,  218  ;  largest 
ranch,  209;  ranching  area,  210; 
methods  of  raising,  211-218  ;  the 
round-up,  212-213  ;  branding, 
213-215  ;  life  of  cowboys,  215- 
216;  alfalfa,  corn-fed  cattle, 
216-217 ;  shipping,  218-219,  220  ; 
stockyards,  219-220;  slaughter- 
ing, 220-221 ;  packing  houses, 
221-222  ;  consumption  of  meat, 
222 ;  beef  preparations,  beef -ex- 
ports, 223 ;  by-products  of,  223- 
224 ;  shoe  manufacturing,  224  ; 
in  foreign  countries,  224-226; 
dairying,  226-231 ;  raised  on  de- 
forested land,  267 
Caves,  formation  of,  41 
Central  America,  highlands  of,  21 
Central  Plain.  See  Great  Central 
Plain 


Charleston,  cotton  market,  61 ;  lum- 
ber industry,  276 

Chautauqua,  grape  belt,  84,  91 

Cheese,  manufacture  of,  countries 
noted  for,  230-231 

Cherokee  Indians,  18 

Chesapeake,  waterway  connec- 
tions, 46 ;  oysters,  302,  306 ;  lob- 
sters, 312 

Chicago,  distance  to  Buffalo  com- 
pared with  Los  Angeles  aque- 
duct, 38 ;  plans  to  connect  with 
Mississippi  River,  47;  railroad 
connections,  49 ;  coal  center,  160 ; 
iron  manufacturing,  180;  stock- 
yards, 219-220,  246;  packing 
houses,  221-223 ;  lumber  market, 
274 

China,  relations  with  United  States, 
5 ;  coal,  161 ;  wool  exports,  245 ; 
lumber  sent  to,  2 70;  bamboo  tree, 
280 

Chippewa  River,  lumbering  on, 
260,  261 

Choke  damp,  formation,  danger 
from,  150 

Cinchona,  quinine  from,  280 

Cincinnati,  coal  used  in,  160 ;  iron 
manufacturing  in,  180 

Cleveland,  industrial  center,  174, 
180 

Climate,  of  United  States,  6,  32-39 ; 
effect  of  forests  on,  281 

Clyde  River,  shipbuilding  on,  174 

Coal,  in  Appalachian  Mountains, 
19 ;  discovery  of,  138 ;  visit  to 
mine,  138-146;  culm,  140;  meth- 
ods of  mining,  144-146;  forma- 
tion of,  147-150;  kinds  of,  149; 
peat,  149 ;  gases,  150-151 ;  water 
in  mine,  152 ;  caving  in,  152-153 ; 
laws  to  protect  miners,  153-154  ; 
coal  breaker,  154-157;  areas  in 
United  States,  157-158;  amount 
mined,  158  ;  shipping,  158-160  ; 
use  in  iron  manufacturing,  160- 
161 ;  deposits  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, 161 ;  uses,  162-164 ;  value 
as  compared  with  gold  and  silver, 
202-203 


324 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Coast  Mountains,  valley  of,  26 ; 
forests  of,  270 

Coastal  Plain,  position,  extent,  for- 
mation, 11 ;  drowned  valleys,  12  ; 
soil  and  products,  13 ;  fruit  raised 
on,  83 

Cod,  effects  of  ocean  currents,  35 ; 
fishing  industry,  287-293 

Coinage,  of  United  States,  204-205 

Coke,  manufacture,  uses,  162  ;  in 
blast  furnaces,  176 

Colorado,  surface,  21 ;  plateau,  25 ; 
river  and  canon,  26,  27;  beet 
sugar  industry,  75;  gold,  202; 
silver,  206-207. 

Coltskins,  imported  from  Russia, 
224 

Columbia,  plateau,  situation,  ex- 
tent, soil,  products,  25,  26 ;  river, 
cascades  in,  23  ;  source,  26 ;  lum- 
bering, 270 ;  fishing,  294 

Columbus,  134,  204,  234,  270 

Combs,  manufacture,  224 

Comstock  Lode,  silver  mine,  206 

Concord,  city  of,  home  of  Concord 
grape,  84 ;  grape,  84,  91 

Connecticut,  peach  area,  102 ;  com- 
pared in  size  with  Farwell  Ranch, 
209 ;  oyster  industry,  306 

Copper,  use  in  coins,  204 

Corinth,  exports  of  currents,  96 

Cork,  grapes  packed  in,  96 ;  indus- 
try in  Spain,  280 

Corn,  area,  10 ;  crops  due  to  soil  of 
Mississippi  Valley,  40;  value  of 
product,  125 ;  quantity  raised, 
125-126;  area  of  production,  126 ; 
an  Illinois  farm,  127-129 ;  meth- 
ods of  increasing  yield,  128-130 ; 
harvesting,  130;  uses,  131-134; 
history,  134-135;  countries  pro- 
ducing, 135;  sweet  corn,  135-136 ; 
Kafir  corn,  sorghum,  136 ;  broom 
corn,  sugar  cane,  137 ;  food  for 
cattle,  217-218 

Cornstarch,  manufacture  of,  133 

Cotton,  on  Coastal  Plain,  13 ;  on 
Piedmont  Belt,  15;  on  Central 
Plain,  28,  40 ;  shipping,  46 ;  area 
of  production,  rank  of  Texas, 


planting,  51 ;  kinds  of,  on  wharf, 
52;  cultivating,  blossoms,  seed- 
pods,  bolls,  53;  picking,  53,  54; 
weighing,  54 ;  shipping,  55 ;  boll 
weevil,  56-57 ;  seeds,  57-60 ;  gin- 
ning, 57 ;  baling,  57-58 ;  value  of 
crop,  60 ;  importance  in  history, 
60^61 ;  cotton  belt,  shipping  ports, 
61 

Cottonseed  meal,  as  cattle  food,  218 
Cowboys,    in   round-up,    212-213 ; 

branding,  214 ;  life  of,  215 
Coyotes,  enemy  of  sheep,  237 
Cramp  Ship  Yards,  181 
Creamery,  modern  method  of  but- 
ter making,  229 

Cripple  Creek,  gold  and  silver  de- 
posits, 202 

Cuba,  sugar  production,  72 
Culm,  accumulation  of,  140 
Cumberland  Gap,  route  over  moun- 
tains, 18 

Currants,  from  Greece,  96 
Currents,  map  of,  7 ;  effects  of,  34 ; 
Arctic  current,  290 ;  Gulf  Stream, 
290 

Dairying,  area,  value  of  product, 
226  ;  butter,  228-230  ;  cheese, 
230-231  ;  milk,  227-231 

Dakota,  deserts  in,  39 ;  ranching 
area,  210 ;  dairying,  226 ;  open- 
ing up,  267 

Daniel  Boone,  route  to  West,  18 

Danube  Valley,  prune  growing,  100 

Davenport,  lumber  industry,  274 

Davy  lamp,  151-152 

Dawson,  trip  to,  188  ;  route  to  Cape 
Nome,  191  ;  life  in,  193 

Dead  Horse  Trail,  route  to  Klon- 
dike, 187 

Death  Valley,  described,  32 ;  ori- 
gin of  name,  195 

Delaware,  cutting  bed,  formation 
of  gap,  17  ;  part  of  waterway 
from  Boston  to  Gulf,  45 ;  fruit 
product  of  state,  83,  91 

Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern Railroad,  159 

Denmark,  dairying,  231 


INDEX 


325 


Denver,  gold  and  silver  deposits, 
202  ;  mint,  205  ;  record  of  cattle 
brands,  215 

Deserts,  formation  of,  38-39 
Detroit,    commerce    of    city    and 
river,  174 ;  iron  industry,  180 ; 
lumber  industry,  274 
Diamonds,  in  South  Africa,  201 
Distilleries,  in  corn  district,  134 
Drainage,   of    Appalachian    high- 
land, 17,  18;  of  United  States, 
26-30 

Drowned  valleys,  formation  of,  12 
Dubuque,  lumber  industry,  274 
Duluth,  flour  industry,  113  ;  iron 
industry,  172  ;  fish  hatchery,  316 
Dyea  Inlet,  route  to  Klondike,  186 
Dyes,  from  coal  tar,  164 

East  Indies,  sugar  production,  72 
Ebony,  found  in  South  America, 

280 

Ecuador,  quinine,  280 
Egypt,  cotton,  63 ;  ancient  use  of 

iron,  167  ;  of  gold,  204 
England,  cotton  manufacturing,  63 ; 
war  with  France,  74 ;  importa- 
tion of  wine,  96  ;  of  wheat,  120 ; 
coal  industry,  161  ;  coinage  sys- 
tem, 205 ;  beef  imports,  223,  225 ; 
woolen  manufacturing,  243 ;  wool 
imports,  248 ;  controversy  over 
sealing,  315 

Erie,  iron  industry,  180 
Erie  Canal,  improvement  of,  43 
Europe,     distance     from     United 
States,  8 ;   size   compared   with 
United  States,  28 ;  sheep  industry, 
248  ;  apple  native  of,  103 ;  beef 
imports,    221  ;    consumption    of 
meat,  223 ;  lumber  trade,  276 ; 
use  of  rubber  boots  and  shoes, 
279 

Fall  Line,  map  of,  14 ;  formation 

of,  14-15 
Fall  River,  cotton  manufacturing, 

61 
Falls  of   St.  Anthony,  power  for 

manufacturing,  274 


Felt,  manufacture  of,  244 

Fertilizer,  manufacture  of,  246,  293 

Figs,  in  California,  84 

Fire  damp,  formation  of,  dangers 
from,  150 

Fires,  dangers  to  forests,  282 

Fishing,  effects  of  ocean  currents, 
35  ;  cod  and  mackerel,  287-293  ; 
Gloucester,  287 ;  methods  of,  289- 
293  ;  fogs  of  Newfoundland,  290 ; 
fishing  regions  of  world,  293 ; 
uses  of  fish,  293  ;  salmon  fishing, 
293-299;  canning  salmon,  299- 
302;  oyster  industry,  302-307; 
whale  fishing,  307-311 ;  lobsters, 
311-313  ;  sealing,  313-315  ;  Fish 
Commission,  312,  313,  316-317 

Florida,  waterway  in,  46 ;  fruit 
farms,  83,  86,  88,  89 

Flour,  shipping  of,  46 ;  manufac- 
ture of,  112-113 

Fogs,  of  Newfoundland,  290 

Forests.   See  lumbering 

France,  use  of  cottonseed  oil  in,  59  ; 
war  with  England,  74 ;  beet- 
sugar  industry,  73-74;  wine  prod- 
uct, 95-96  ;  prune  growing,  100 ; 
wheat  product,  120 ;  coal  in- 
dustry, 161  ;  iron  product,  171  ; 
beef  imports,  223,  225 

Fray  Bentos,  beef  extract  manu- 
facture, 225-226 

French  and  Indian  War,  18 

Fruit,  modern  inventions,  81  ; 
Luther  Burbank,  82  ;  varieties 
in  United  States,  82-85  ;  oranges, 
86-89 ;  lemons,  88-91  ;  grapes, 
91-96 ;  olives,  96-99 ;  prunes, 
99-102;  peaches,  102-103;  ap- 
ples, 103-105 

Furs,  for  felt  hats,  244  ;  in  Russia, 
273 

Galveston,  shipping  port,  58 ;  cot- 
ton market.  61 

Gaucho,  life  of,  225 

General  Fre'mont,  tree  named  from 
pioneer,  271 

Georgia,  sea-island  cotton,  53 ;  rank 
as  a  cotton-producing  state,  61 ; 


326 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


cotton  manufacturing,  62  ;  fruit 
product,  83 ;  peach  area,  102 ; 
naval  stores,  276-278 

Germany,  beet-sugar  industry,  73- 
74 ;  apple  production,  103  ;  wheat 
120 ;  coal,  161  ;  iron  and  steel, 
181  ;  beef  imports,  223,  225 

Geysers,  in  Western  Highland,  21 

Glaciers,  in  Western  Highland,  21 ; 
map  of,  40 ;  effect  on  soil,  41  ; 
in  New  England,  62 

Glass,  manufacture  of,  13 

Gloucester,  fishing  industry,  287- 
292 

Glucose,  manufacture  and  uses,  67, 
133 

Glue,  manufacture  of,  224,  293. 

Goats,  use  to  mountain  peoples, 
231  ;  skins  imported,  224 

Gold,  effect  of  discovery,  23  ;  in- 
fluence of,  184 ;  route  to  Klon- 
dike, 184-188 ;  methods  of  mining, 
189-191 ;  discovery  at  Cape  Nome, 
the  Yukon  River,  191  ;  Nome, 
191-193  ;  mining  at  Nome,  192  ; 
assay  office  at  Seattle,  193-194 ; 
purchase  of  Alaska,  products  of 
Alaska,  194 ;  discovery  in  Cali- 
fornia, 195-196 ;  methods  of 
mining  in  California,  effects  of 
discovery,  placer  mining,  196;  hy- 
draulic mining,  196-198 ;  quartz 
mining,  198-199  ;  stamp  mills, 
199  ;  origin  of  gold,  200-201  ;  in 
foreign  countries,  rank  of  United 
States,  amount  mined,  201-202  ; 
value  of,  201-204  ;  uses  of,  204  ; 
coining,  205 

Grain,  center  of  production,  28 ; 
shipping  from  Mississippi  Valley, 
46 ;  elevators,  111,  112 ;  raised 
on  deforested  land,  267 

Grand  Rapids,  lumber  industry,  274 

Grape  fruit,  in  Florida,  89 

Grapes,  on  Coastal  Plain,  on  Pied- 
mont Belt,  83.;  in  California,  84, 
92 ;  areas  of  production,  91  ; 
largest  vineyard  in  world,  method 
of  raising,  92  ;  uses  of,  94  ;  cur- 
ing raisins,  94-95  ;  making  wine, 


94-96  ;  currants,  Spanish  grapes, 
Uo 

Great  Basin,  situation,  surface,  23  ; 
drainage,  23-25 ;  travel  in,  cli- 
mate, 24 ;  irrigation,  products, 
25 ;  rainfall  and  irrigation,  36- 
39 

Great  Britain,  consumption  of  rai- 
sins, 95 ;  importation  of  apples 
from  Canada,  104 ;  of  wheat 
from  Argentina,  120 ;  iron,  168, 
181 

Great  Central  Plain,  products  of, 
5  ;  situation,  11  ;  surface,  21 ;  de- 
scription, size,  importance,  prod- 
ucts, drainage,  28-30 

Great  Lakes,  route  to  interior  of 
country,  18 ;  aid  in  exploration, 
26 ;  moisture  from,  36  ;  con- 
nected with  Atlantic  Ocean,  44  ; 
with  Gulf  of  Mexico,  47  ;  fruit 
area  near,  83,  102  ;  coal  traffic, 
159;  iron  ore  carried,  160;  de- 
scribed, 172-174,  175;  lumber 
industry,  267,  272  ;  work  of  Eish 
Commission,  316-317 

Great  Salt  Lake,  23 

Great  Valley,  of  Appalachian 
Mountains,  16 

Great  Western  Highland,  mineral 
products,  5  ;  age  and  appearance, 
11 ;  contrasted  with  Appalachians, 
20 ;  map  showing  divisions,  22  ; 
description,  divisions,  20-27  ; 
quartz  mining,  198-200 ;  future 
discovery  of  gold,  200  ;  gold  pro- 
duction, 202 

Greece,  currants  from.  96 

Green  Mountains,  part  of  Appala- 
chian system,  15 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  rivers  entering,  26  ; 
moisture  from,  36  ;  formerly  con- 
nected with  Arctic  Ocean,  41  ; 
inland  waterways  to,  45 ;  ports 
for  lumber  region,  273 

Gulf  Stream,  effect  on  fogs  of  New- 
foundland, 290 

Harpers Eerry, formation,  17;  route 
to  the  West,  18 


INDEX 


327 


Haverhill,  shoe  manufacturing,  224 
Hawaiian   Islands,   route   to,   46  ; 
sugar,  72  ;  lumber  sent  to,  270 ; 
picture,  sperm  whaling,  309 
Hereford  cattle,  for  beef,  227 
Herring,  effect  of  Arctic  current, 

35  ;  in  Great  Lakes,  316 
Holland,  use  of  cottonseed  oil  in, 
59  ;  manufacture  of  cheese,  231 
Holstein  cattle,  for  dairy  purposes, 

227 

Honey,  earliest  form  of  sugar,  67 
Horses,    Kentucky    bred,    41  ;    in 

South  America,  225 
Hot  Springs,  in  Western  Highland, 

21 

Hudson  River,  separates  ranges  of 
Appalachian  Mountains,  impor- 
tance of  valley,  15;  with  Mohawk 
valley  important  in  history,  18 ; 
means  of  exploration,  26 
Humboldt,  river  and  lake,  25 
Hydraulic    mining,    defined,    196 ; 
described,  197-198 

Idaho,  lava  area,  26  ;  prune  grow- 
ing, 100 ;  rank  in  gold  output, 
202 

Illinois,  center  of  population,  of 
grain  production,  28  ;  river,  con- 
nected by  canal  with  Lake  Michi- 
gan, 47  ;  corn,  126, 127, 134  ;  coal, 
158  ;  dairying,  226  ;  lumbering, 
272 

India,  cotton  production,  63 ;  cotton 
native  of,  64  ;  wheat,  120,  122  ; 
corn,  135  ;  gold,  204  ;  goatskins, 
224 ;  use  of  buffalo,  231 ;  rug  mak- 
ing, 244  ;  cashmere  goat,  249 

Indiana,  corn,  126  ;  coal,  158  ;  dai- 
rying, 226  ;  lumbering,  272 

Iowa,  wheat,  116  ;  corn,  126  ;  coal, 
158  ;  opening  up,  267 

Iron,  in  Appalachian  Mountains, 
19  ;  cost  of  freighting,  45  ;  de- 
posits near  coal,  160;  smelted 
with  coke,  162  ;  uses,  166  - 167  ; 
history,  167,  amount  and  value, 
167-168  ;  areas,  168  ;  methods  of 
mining,  168-170  ;  Lake  Superior 


deposits,  170-171;  smelting, 
171-172,  176-178 ;  shipping, 
172  ;  Lake  route,  172-174  ;  Pitts- 
burg,  175-176  ;  pig  iron,  178 ; 
cast  iron,  wrought  iron,  steel, 
179 ;  manufacturing  cities,  179- 
181 ;  in  foreign  countries,  181- 
182  ;  contrasted  with  gold  and 
silver,  202-203 

Iron  Mountain,  deposits  of  iron,  168 

Irrigation,  of  Great  Basin,  25 ;  in 
arid  and  semi-arid  sections,  37 ; 
for  fruit  farms,  84-85  ;  in  orange 
grove,  87  ;  on  ranching  area,  211 

Isthmus  of  Panama,  route  to  Asia, 
5,  21.  See  canals 

Italy,  vineyards,  93  ;  olives,  97,  99  ; 
iron  and  steel  trade  with  Ger- 
many, 182 

Jacksonville,  lumber  industry,  276 
James  Bay,  route  of  Grand  Trunk 

Pacific  Railroad,  117 
James  River,  cutting  bed,  17  ;  route 

to  Mississippi  Valley,  18 
Japan,  relations  with  United  States, 
5  ;    people    in    California,    90 ; 
American-made  locomotives  in, 
181 ;  lumber  sent  to,  270 ;  cam- 
phor, bamboo,  280  ;  sealing,  314  ; 
eggs  sent  from  fish  hatcheries  of 
United  States,  317 
Java,  sugar  production,  72 
Jersey  City,  sugar  refineries,  71 

Kafir,  corn  in  United  States,  136 

Kansas,  wheat,  116,  121  ;  corn,  126, 
136 ;  coal,  158  ;  corn-fed  cattle, 
218  ;  dairying,  226  ;  opening  up, 
267 

Kansas  City,  stockyards,  219 ; 
packing  houses,  221-222 

Kennebec  River,  corn  in  valley, 
135 ;  lumbering,  273 

Kentucky,  opening  of,  18 ;  lime- 
stone region,  40 ;  horses,  41  ; 
cotton,  61  ;  coal,  158 ;  lumber- 
ing, 272 

Klondike,  gold  in,  184  ;  hardships, 
184-185;  route  to,  185-188;  origin 


328 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


of  name,  188  ;  gold  at  Nome,  191  ; 
gold  deposited  at  Seattle,  194 
Krupp  gun   works,    in   Germany, 
181-182 

Lake  Bennett,  route  to  Klondike, 
187 

Lake  Erie,  canal  to  Pittsburg,  44 ; 
fruit  region,  83 ;  Chautauqua 
grape  belt,  84 

Lake  Huron,  canal  to  Lake  Supe- 
rior, 44 

Lake  Michigan,  canal  to  Illinois 
River,  47  ;  fruit  region,  83 

Lake  Ontario,  fruit  region,  83 

Lake  Superior,  canal  to  Lake  Hu- 
ron, 44  ;  iron,  160, 168  ;  iron  sent 
to  Chicago,  180 

Laplander,  reindeer,  231 

La  Plata  River,  wheat  traffic,  120  ; 
cattle,  225-226 

Lava,  plains  in  northwest,  25,  27, 
40 

Lawrence,  cotton,  62  ;  woolen,  243 

Leadville,  gold  and  silver,  202 ; 
silver,  206 

Leather,  manufacture  of,  224  ;  tan- 
neries, 224,  246 ;  sheepskin,  246 

Lemons,  in  Florida,  83,  89  ;  in  Cali- 
fornia, 84,  89  ;  in  Mediterranean 
countries,  89  ;  tree,  89-90  ;  pick- 
ing, washing,  90  ;  drying,  90-91  ; 
shipping,  91 

Lewiston,  lumbering,  273 

Limestone,  Kentucky  region,  40 ; 
in  blast  furnaces,  176 

Liverpool,  ship  canal  to  Manches- 
ter, 63 

Lobsters,  on  Maine  coast,  color, 
habits,  311 ;  methods  of  catching, 
work  of  Fish  Commission,  312  ; 
laws  concerning  fishing,  312,  313 

Locomotives,  Baldwin  Locomotive 
Works,  181 

London,  coal  market,  161 ;  wool 
market,  242,  245  ;  dressing  seal- 
skins, 314 

Long  Island,  oyster  industry,  306 

Long  Island  Sound,  waterway  con- 
nections to  Gulf  of  Mexico,  45 


"Long  Tom,"  used  in  gold  indus- 
try in  Klondike,  191 ;  in  Califor- 
nia, 196 

Los  Angeles,  water  supply,  38  ; 
oranges,  88 ;  raisins,  92 ;  olives, 
97 

Louisiana,  sugar,  67,  72  ;  oranges, 
86 

Louisville,  distilleries,  134 ;  iron, 
180 

Lowell,  cotton,  62  ;  woolen,  243 

Lumbering,  people  engaged  in,  253 ; 
life  in  camp,  253-260;  "tote- 
road,"  253  ;  felling  trees,  256  ; 
"log-road,"  256-257;  skidways, 
259 ;  river  driving,  261-262 ; 
"jam,"  261;  boom,  262;  saw- 
mills, 263-264  ;  cutting  off  of  for- 
ests, uses  of  wood,  amount  of 
lumber  cut,  264 ;  forest  areas, 
264-273;  paper  industry,  265- 
268  ;  use  in  developing  country, 
267 ;  big  trees  of  California, 
270-272  ;  hard-wood  area,  272  ; 
advantages  for  shipping,  272- 
273 ;  in  other  countries,  273 ; 
manufacturing,  shipping,  273- 
276  ;  use  of  lumber  in  tanning, 
276  ;  naval  stores,  276-278  ;  rub- 
ber, 279-280 ;  quinine,  cork,  cam- 
phor, bamboo,  280  ;  mahogany, 
rosewood,  ebony,  280-281  ;  influ- 
ence of  trees  on  climate,  281 ; 
dangers  of  deforesting,  282  ;  dan- 
ger from  fire,  282  ;  work  of  gov- 
ernment, 282-283 

Lynn,  shoe  manufacturing,  224 

Mackenzie  River,  whaling,  307 

Mackerel,  effect  of  ocean  currents, 
35  ;  fishing  industry,  287-293 

Macon,  lumber  industry,  276 

Mahogany,  from  South  America, 
280 

Maine,  sardine  industry,  59  ;  sweet 
corn,  135-136;  lumbering,  264- 
265  ;  lumber  markets,  273  ;  lob- 
sters, 311 

Maize.   See  Corn 

Manchester,  England,  cotton,  63 


INDEX 


329 


Manchester,  N.  H.,  cotton,  62 ; 
woolen,  243 

Manitoba,  wheat,  117 

Manufacturing,  center  of,  28.  See 
different  industries 

Maple  sugar,  amount  made,  67 ; 
manufacturing,  77-79 

Mariposa  Grove,  in  California, 
270-271 

Maryland,  fruit,  83,  91 ;  wheat, 
116  ;  oysters,  302,  306 

Massachusetts,  size  compared  with 
area  reclaimed  by  irrigation,  37  ; 
boot  and  shoe  manufacturing, 
224;  whaling,  307 

Meat.   See  Cattle,  Sheep 

Mediterranean  countries,  lemons, 
89  ;  wine,  95-96  ;  olives,  97-99 

Memphis,  cotton  market,  61 

Merrimac  River,  salmon  in,  301- 
302 

Mesabi  Range,  iron  mines,  168-170 

Mexico,  wheat,  122 ;  corn,  135 ; 
silver,  207;  rubber,  279-280; 
eggs  sent  from  fish  hatcheries  of 
United  States,  317 

Michigan,  beet  sugar,  75 ;  wheat, 
116  ;  iron,  168,  180;  copper,  180; 
dairying,  226 ;  lumbering,  267, 
274 

Middle  Atlantic  States,  dairying, 
226 

Millinocket,  paper  mills,  265 

Milwaukee,  tanneries,  224 

Mining.  See  Coal,  Iron,  Gold,  Silver 

Minneapolis,  flour,  113-114 ;  breed- 
ing new  wheats,  122  ;  lumber,  274 

Minnesota,  flour  mills,  113  ;  wheat, 
116,  121;  iron,  168,  180;  dairy- 
ing, 226  ;  lumbering,  267,  274 

Mints,  in  United  States,  205 

Mississippi,  cotton,  28,  61 

Mississippi  River,  means  of  develop- 
ment, 26  ;  compared  with  other 
rivers,  28,  29  ;  length,  branches, 
importance,  floods,  30 ;  com- 
merce of,  46  ;  plans  for  improve- 
ment, 47 

Mississippi  Valley,  routes  from  At- 
lantic to,  16-18 ;  size,  importance, 


drainage,  28-30;  products,  28, 
46 ;  railroads,  49  ;  corn  area, 
126,  131  ;  dairying  area,  226- 
227  ;  sheep  industry,  234,  239 

Missouri,  corn,  126,  136  ;  coal,  158  ; 
iron,  168  ;  dairying,  226 

Missouri  River,  branch  of  Missis- 
sippi, 26 ;  source,  29 

Mobile,  lumber  industry,  275 

Mohair,  from  wool  of  Angora  goats, 
250 

Mohave  Desert,  32 

Mohawk  River,  importance  of  val- 
ley, 15.  See  Hudson-Mohawk 

Molasses,  manufacture  of,  71 ;  used 
for  rum,  72 

Monongahela  River,  advantage  to 
Pittsburg,  175 

Montana,  surface,  21 ;  gold,  202  ; 
silver,  206-207  ;  wool,  239 

Montgomery,  lumber  industry,  276 

Montreal,  railway  terminus,  117 

Mt.  Mitchell,  highest  peak  of  Appa- 
lachians, 15 

Mt.  Shasta,  described,  23  ;  picture, 
24 

Mutton,  246 

Natural  Bridge,  picture,  39 
Naval    stores,    description,    uses, 

where  obtained,  276-278 
Nebraska,  beet  sugar,  75 ;  wheat, 
116  ;  corn,  126  ;  opening  up,  267 
Nevada,  gold,  202  ;  silver,  206 
New  Bedford,  whaling,  307,  310 
New  England,  climate,  32  ;  fishing, 
35 ;  rainfall,  36  ;  soil,  41  ;    cot- 
ton manufacturing,  glacier,  62  ; 
apples,    104;    sweet   corn,    135; 
dairying,  226-228  ;  woolen  manu- 
factures,  242 ;    lumbering,    265, 
272  ;  cod  and  mackerel  fishing, 
290-291  ;  salmon,  301,  302 
Newfoundland,  banks  of,  289  ;  fish- 
ing, 289-290 

New  Hampshire,  lumbering,  264 
New  Jersey,  future  inland  water- 
ways, 45  ;  fruit,  83  ;  grapes,  91  ; 
coal  ports,  161 
New  Mexico,  surface,  21 


330 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


New  Orleans,  cotton  market,  61, 
67  ;  sugar  refineries,  71  ;  mint, 
205  ;  lumber  market,  276 

New  South  Wales,  sheep  industry, 
246 

New  York,  improving  Erie  Canal, 
43  ;  maple-sugar  industry,  77  ; 
grape  belt,  84  ;  apple  production, 
104  ;  manufacture  of  cornstarch, 
133  ;  lumbering,  265 

New  York  Central  Railroad,  con- 
nects Atlantic  ports  and  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  49 ;  penetrates  coal 
fields,  159 

New  York  City,  limit  of  glacier, 
41  ;  trip  from  Boston  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  45 ;  size,  47 ; 
cotton  market,  61  ;  coal  market, 
161  ;  iron  and  steel,  180-181 ;  trip 
to  Dawson  from,  188;  oysters,  306 

New  Zealand,  sheep  raising,  247 

Niagara  Falls,  picture,  34,  use  of 
power  from,  111 

Nome,  discovery  of  gold,  route 
from  Dawson,  191  ;  description 
of,  life  in,  191-193 

Norfolk,  trip  from  Boston  to  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  46 ;  cotton  market, 
61  ;  oyster  market,  307 

North  Carolina,  tobacco  area,  15  ; 
inland  waterway,  46  ;  cotton,  51, 
61  ;  naval  stores,  276-278 

North  Dakota,  wheat  raising,  107, 
109,  116 

North  Sea,  fishing,  293 

Norton  Sound,  route  to  Nome,  191 

Norway,  iron  and  steel,  181 ;  fish- 
ing, 293 

Nova  Scotia,  apple  production,  104 

Oath  of  Allegiance,  quoted,  9 
Oats,  in  Mississippi  Valley,  127 
Ocean  currents,  map  of,  7  ;  effects 

of,  34 

Odessa,  wheat  port,  119 
Ohio,  center  of  manufacturing  area, 

28  ;  grape  belt,  84  ;  wheat,  116  ; 

corn,  126,  136 ;   iron,  coal,  and 

oil,    180;   dairying,   226;   wool, 

239 ;  lumbering,  272 


Ohio  River,  pioneer  route  to  Central 
Plain,  18  ;  branch  of  Mississippi, 
29  ;  floods  on,  30  ;  southern  limit 
of  glacier,  41  ;  coal  traffic,  159  ; 
traffic  on,  175,  180  ;  lumbering  in 
valley,  272,  275 

Oklahoma,  corn  product,  136 

Oleomargarine,  224 

Olives,  in  California,  84,  97 ;  in 
Mediterranean  countries,  97; 
olive  tree,  97, 99 ;  pickling  olives, 
97-98 ;  making  oil,  adultera- 
tion of  oil,  98  ;  California  and 
European  product,  olive  wood, 
99 

Omaha,  stockyards,  219 ;  packing 
houses,  221-222 

Ontario,  apple  production,  104 

Orange,  orchards,  picture,  19  ;  in 
Florida,  83,  88,  89;  in  Califor- 
nia, 84  ;  areas  in  United  States, 
amount  produced  in  California, 
Redlands,  marmalade,  86  ;  or- 
chards, 86-88 ;  picking,  packing, 
shipping,  88  ;  irrigating  a  grove, 
87 

Oregon,  lava  area,  25 ;  mountains, 
26  ;  rainfall,  32  ;  prune  growing, 
100  ;  gold,  202 

Oriental  rugs,  manufacture  of,  244 

Oyster,  replenishing  stock,  302-306 ; 
methods  of  catching,  306-307 ; 
shipping,  307 

Pacific  Islands,  route  via  Panama 
Canal,  46 ;  route  from  Chicago, 
47 

Pacific  Ocean,  width  of,  8 ;  westerly 
winds,  35  ;  fishing,  293  ;  salmon, 
295,  296,  301  ;  whaling,  307,  309 

Pacific  States,  dairying,  226  ;  lum- 
bering, 272 

Palestine,  picture,  natives  grim  ling 
wheat,  116 

Pamlico  Sound,  route  from  Boston 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  46 

Pampas,  described,  119;  cattle, 
225  ;  extent  of,  226 

Panama  Canal,  effect  on  routes, 
46 ;  route  from  Chicago,  47 


INDEX 


331 


Paper,  from  corn,  134 ;  industry 
in  Maine,  265-267 ;  pulp  from 
Canada,  273 

Parana  River,  opens  up  wheat 
country,  120 

Peabody,  sheepskin  tanneries,  246 

Peace  River,  route  of  Grand  Trunk 
Pacific  Railroad,  117 

Peaches,  on  Coastal  Plain  and 
Piedmont  Belt,  83  ;  in  California, 
84 ;  areas  of  production,  102 ; 
picking  and  packing,  102-103 ; 
shipping,  103 

Peat,  formation,  use,  149 

Pennsylvania,  maple  sugar,  77 ; 
laws  to  protect  miners,  153  ;  coal 
area,  157  ;  coal  output,  158  ;  steel 
output,  160  ;  iron  deposits,  168  ; 
coal  and  oil,  176,  180 ;  tanneries, 
276 

Pennsylvania  Railroad,  connects 
Atlantic  ports  and  Mississippi 
Valley,  49 ;  penetrates  coal  fields, 
159 

Penobscot  River,  lumbering,  273 

Pensacola,  lumber  market,"275 

Peoria,  distilleries,  134 

Persia,  rug  making,  244 

Peru,  quinine,  280 

Philadelphia,  sugar  refineries,  71  ; 
shipping  port  for  coal,  160  ;  iron 
and  steel  industry,  180-181;  mint, 
205 ;  woolen  manufacturing,  243  ; 
carpets,  244 

Philippines,  trade  with,  46  ;  sugar, 
72  ;  lumber  sent  to,  270 

Piedmont  Belt,  name,  extent,  for- 
mation, rivers,  13  ;  fall  line,  soil, 
products,  15 ;  fruit,  83 

Pig  iron,  manufacture  of,  178 

Pillsbury,  flour  mills,  114 

Pilot  Knob,  iron  deposits,  168 

Pineapple,  in  Florida,  83,  89 

Pitch,  description,  uses,  276,  278 

Pittsburg,  canal  to  the  Great  Lakes, 
44  ;  coal  consumption,  160  ;  coke 
ovens,  162  ;  industries,  advan- 
tages of  situation,  175-176  ;  rail- 
way connections,  175-176;  iron 
manufacturing,  180 


Placer  mining,  defined,  196 ;  where 

carried  on,  201 
Plum,  picture,  82  ;   in  California, 

84,  100-101 

Population,  center  of,  28 
Port  Simpson,  terminus  of  Grand 

Trunk  Pacific  Railroad,  117 
Portland,    Maine,    canning    corn, 

136  ;  lumber  market,  273 
Portland,  Oregon,  lumbering,  270, 

276 
Potatoes,  raised  on  deforested  land, 

267 
Potomac   River,  cutting  bed,   17  ; 

route  to  Central  Plain,  18 
Pribilof  Islands,  sealing,  313,  314 
Providence,  woolen  manufacturing, 

243 
Prunes,  in  California,  84,99 ;  amount 

consumed,   area  of   production, 

100 ;    harvesting   plums,    drying 

plums,   101 ;    packing,   grading, 

102 

Quebec,  terminus  of  Grand  Trunk 

Pacific  Railroad,  117 
Quincy,  lumber  industry,  274 
Quinine,  from  Peru  and  Ecuador, 

280 

Rabbits,  enemy  of  sheep,  247 
Railroads,  follow  pioneer  routes, 
18  ;  picture,  following  river  val- 
ley, 27  ;  map  of,  48  ;  New  York 
Central,  Pennsylvania,  Balti- 
more and  Ohio,  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio,  Great  Northern,  North- 
ern Pacific,  Union  Pacific,  South- 
ern Pacific,  Atchison,  Topeka 
and  Santa  F£,  49 ;  Canadian 
Pacific,  Trans-Canadian,  117  ; 
map  of  Trans-Canadian,  118 ; 
penetrate  coal  fields,  159  ;  White 
Pass  and  Yukon  Railroad,  186 ; 
in  stockyards,  220  ;  in  lumber  re- 
gions, 260,  268  ;  amount  of  lum- 
ber used  by,  276 

Rainfall,  of  United  States,  32-38 ; 
map  of,  36  ;  effects  of  forests  on, 
280 


332 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Raisins,  in  California,  84;  curing, 
94  ;  product  of  California  and  of 
Europe,  95 
Rappahannock     River,      cutting 

course  through  mountains,  17 
Red  Wing,  lumber  industry,  274 
Redlands,  orange  industry,  86 
Reindeer,  use  to  Laplander,  231 
Resin,  production   and  uses,  276, 

277,  278 

Revolutionary  War,  use  of  Hudson- 
Mohawk  Valley,  18  ;  began  coin- 
age system  after,  205 
Rice,  on  Coastal  Plain,  13 
Rio  Grande,  source  of,  26 
"Rocker,"  use  in  gold  mining,  in 

Alaska,  189 ;  in  California,  196 
Rocky    Mountain    Highland.     See 

Great  Western  Highland 
Rocky     Mountains,     extent,    21  ; 
boundary  of   Great  Basin,  23 ; 
source  of  rivers,  great  divide,  26 ; 
rainfall  of,  36  ;  cattle  ranching, 
210  ;  sheep  ranching,  239 
Roosevelt,  address  on  Alaska,  194- 
195 ;     address    on  Arbor    Day, 
283-284 

Rosewood,  production,  280 
Round-up,  described,  212-213 
Routes,  through  Appalachian,  16-18 
Rubber,  industry,  279-280 
Rum,  manufacture  of,  in  Jamaica,  72 
Rumford  Falls,  paper  industry,  265 
Russia,  beet  sugar,  74  ;  apples,  103  ; 
wheat,  117,  119,  120,  122  ;  coal, 
161  ;  iron  and  steel  trade  with 
Germany,  182  ;  gold,  201  ;  sheep, 
248  ;  exports  colt-  and  calf-skins, 
224 ;  lumbering,  273 ;  war  with 
Japan,  280 
Rye,  in  Mississippi  Valley,  127 

Sacramento  River,  discovery  of 
gold  in,  195-196 ;  used  for  hy- 
draulic mining,  198 

St.  Johns  River,  waterway  connect- 
ing Suwanee  River,  46 

St.  Joseph,  stockyards,  219 

St.  Lawrence  River,  route  to  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  18 


St.  Louis,  railroad  connections,  49; 
flour  industry,  113  ;  coal  center, 
160  ;  stockyards,  219  ;  shoes,  224; 
lumber,  274,  275 

St.  Mary  River,  "Soo"  canal,  44 

Salmon,  life  history,  293-296 ; 
methods  of  catching,  296-299; 
canning,  299-300 ;  fishing  areas, 
301 

Salt,  product  of  the  desert,  25 

Salt  Lakes,  in  the  West,  21 

San  Francisco,  sugar  refineries, 
71 ;  shipping  port  for  fruit,  85  ; 
mint,  205;  lumber,  270;  built 
of  redwood,  272  ;  whaling,  307, 
310 

San  Joaquin  River,  used  for  hy- 
draulic mining,  198 

San  Jose',  prune  industry,  99 

Sandwich,  canal  to  Buzzards  Bay, 
45 

Santa  Rosa,  home  of  Luther  Bur- 
bank,  82 

Sardine,  industry  in  Maine,  59 ; 
fish  roe  for  bait,  293 

Savannah,  cotton  market,  61  ;  lum- 
ber, 276;  market  for  naval  stores, 
278 

Seal,  in  Bering  Sea,  migration  of, 
habits  of,  313 ;  colony,  capture, 
privilege  of  fishing,  314  ;  pirates, 
efforts  to  protect,  315 

Seattle,  route  to  Klondike,  185 ;  to 
Nome,  192-193 ;  assay  office,  193- 
194  ;  lumbering,  270,  276 

Shechem,  Joseph's  brethren  in,  233 

Sheep,  ranches,  37,  224  ;  in  stock- 
yards, 219-220  ;  use  to  mountain 
peoples,  231  ;  history  of,  233- 
234 ;  farms  and  ranches,  234- 
235 ;  herder's  life,  234-239 ;  shep- 
herd dog,  238-239 ;  growth  of 
industry,  240-241 ;  shearing,  241- 
242  ;  wool  manufacture,  242-246 ; 
uses  of,  sheepskin,  246 ;  raising 
in  other  countries,  246-248 

Shenandoah  Valley,  soil  of,  16 

Shipbuilding,  Cramp  Ship  Yards, 
181 

Shoes,  manufacture  of,  224 


INDEX 


333 


Shorthorn  cattle,  227 
Sicily,  lemon  pickers  of,  90 
Sierra  Nevada,  position,  meaning 

of  name,  21,  23  ;  valley  of,  26 ; 

effect  on   rainfall,  35,  36;  gold 

and  silver,  206 
Silo,  described,  use,  133 
Silver,  use  in  coins,  204  ;  deposits, 

205,  206,  207  ;  mining,  206  ;  rank 

of  states  and  countries,  207 
Sioux  City,  stockyards,  219 
Size,  of  United  States,  33 
Skagway,  route  to  Klondike,  186 
Snake  River,  course  of,  26,  27 
Soil,  of  United  States,  38-41 
"  Soo  "  Canal,  importance,  location, 

traffic,   locks,   pictures,  44,  45  ; 

description,  173-174 
Sorghum,  of  sugar-cane  family,  66 ; 

of  corn  family,  136 
South,  products  of,  5 ;  lumbering 

in,  268,  273,  275 
South  America,  route  around,  46 ; 

American-made  locomotives  in, 

181  ;    exports     goatskins,    224  ; 

cattle  industry,  224-226;  sheep 

industry,  247-248  ;  alpaca,  249- 

250  ;  lumber  sent  to,  270  ;  rubber 

industry,  279-280  ;  quinine,  280 ; 

eggs  sent  from  government  hatch- 
eries, 317 
South  Carolina,  sea-island  cotton, 

52,  53  ;  rank  as  a  cotton  state, 

61  ;  naval  stores,  276-278 
South   Dakota,  wheat,  116 ;  gold, 

202 
Spain,  grapes  from,  96  ;  olives,  97, 

99 ;    introduction  of    corn,  134 ; 

cork,  280  ;  sheep,  234 
Stanford,   Leland,   vineyard,    92  ; 

ranch,  94 

Starch,  from  corn,  133 
Steel,  manufactures,  160 ;   use  of 

coke,  162  ;  in  Pittsburg,  175, 176 ; 

manufacture  of,  179 ;  steel  ships, 

181 
Stockyards,     described,     219-220, 

223,  246 
Strawberries,  on  Coastal  Plain  and 

Piedmont  Belt,  83 


Suez  Canal,  compared  with  uSoo  " 
Canal,  44 

Sugar,  on  Coastal  Plain,  13  ;  effect 
of  soil  of  Mississippi  Valley, 
40 ;  amount  consumed,  introduc- 
tion of  sugar  cane  into  United 
States,  plants  of  the  cane  fam- 
ily, 66 ;  honey,  glucose,  67  ; 
a  plantation,  67-70 ;  planting 
cane,  68-69;  cutting  cane,  69-70; 
extracting  juice,  70-71  ;  sirup 
and  molasses,  refining  sugar,  71 ; 
states  producing,  importation, 
product  of  East  and  West  Indies, 
72  ;  beet  sugar,  66,  73-77  ;  maple 
sugar,  67,  77-79 

Sugar  beets.   See  Sugar 

Sugarcane.  See  Sugar;  member  of 
corn  family,  136 

Sugar-maple  tree,  tapping,  76 ; 
gathering  sap,  77 

Sulphur,  product  of  desert,  25 

Superior,  shipping  port  for  iron, 
172 

Surface,  of  United  States,  11-30 

Susquehanna,  cutting  course 
through  mountains,  17 

Suwanee,"  canal  to  St.  Johns  River, 
46 

Sweden,  iron  industry,  171,  181 

Switzerland,  manufacture  of  cheese, 
231 

Tacoma,  lumbering,  269,  276 

Tanneries,  in  United  States,  224, 
246 ;  use  of  lumber  in,  276 

Tar,  on  Coastal  Plain,  13;  de- 
scription and  uses,  276,  277, 
278 

Tennessee,  limestone  region,  40 ; 
market  for  cotton,  61 ;  wheat, 
116 ;  iron,  168 

Tennessee  Valley,  soil  of,  16 

Texas,  cotton,  51,  54,  55,  58,  61 ; 
sugar,  72  ;  wheat,  116,  122  ;  corn, 
126;  cattle,  209,  210  ;  lumbering, 
268 

Tibet,  cashmere  goat,  249 

Tobacco,  in  Piedmont  Belt,  15 ;  in 
Mississippi  Valley,  127 


334 


INDUSTRIAL  STUDIES 


Toledo,  on  lake  route,  174  ;  iron 

manufacturing,  180 
Trade  routes,  map  of,  7 
Trout,  in  Great  Lakes,  316 
Tubal-Cain,   worker   in  iron   and 

brass,  167 

Turkey,  Oriental  rugs,  244 
Turpentine,  on  Coastal  Plain,  13  ; 

production  and   uses,  276,  277, 

278 
Two   Harbors,   shipping   port   for 

iron,  172 

United  States,  effects  of  position, 
6,  7  ;  distance  from  Europe  and 
Asia,  8  ;  size,  10,  33  ;  surface, 
11-30 ;  drainage,  26-30  ;  climate, 
32-39 ;  soil,  38-41  ;  waterways, 
43-47  ;  railroads,  47-49  ;  govern- 
ment, 57,  74,  122,  129,  193-194, 
282-283,  312,  313,  314,  316-317; 
cotton,  51-65  ;  sugar,  66-80  ; 
fruit,  81-106;  wheat,  107-124; 
corn,  125-137;  coal,  138-165; 
iron,  166-183;  gold,  184-205; 
silver,  205-207  ;  cattle  and  beef, 
209-232  ;  sheep  and  wool,  233- 
252 ;  lumbering  and  allied  in- 
dustries, 253-286 ;  fisheries,  287- 
319 

Uruguay,  beef  extract,  225-226 

Uruguay  River,  penetrates  wheat 
region,  120 

Utah,  beet-sugar  industry,  75 ;  gold, 
202  ;  silver,  207 

Vermont,  maple  sugar,  77;  dairy- 
ing, 226 ;  lumbering,  264 

Vineyards.    See  Grapes 

Virginia,  tobacco  area,  15;  Shen- 
andoah  Valley,  16 ;   early  route 
to  Mississippi  Valley,  18 ;   lime-  • 
stone  formation,  40 ;  fruit,  83 

Virginia  City,  silver  deposits,  206 

Volcanoes,  in  Western  Highland, 
21 

Walnuts,  in  California,  84 
Washington,    lava    area,    25-26 ; 
prunes,  100;  wheat,  116;   lum- 


bering, 269, 276 ;  forest  fires,  282 ; 
salmon,  299 

West,  the,  opening  of,  4 ;  products 
of,  4, 5 ;  gold,  23 ;  lumbering,  268- 
272 
West    Indies,  .  sugar    production, 

72 
West  Virginia,  iron,  168 ;  coal,  175 ; 

lumbering,  272 

Westerly  winds,  effects  of,  6,  34 
Western  Highland.  See  Great  West- 
ern Highland 

Whale,  where  found,  species,  307 ; 
metjiods  of  whaling,  307-309; 
oil  and  whalebone,  309-310 ; 
whaling  centers,  310;  value  of 
product,  311 

Whalebacks,  described,  172-173 
Wheat,  harvesting,  picture,  9 ;  size 
of  area,  10;   soil  in  Mississippi 
Valley,    40 ;    speech   of    Indian 
chief,  areas  of  production,  107; 
a  wheat  farm,  107-108 ;  planting, 
108;    harvesting,    108-110,    113, 
122;  grain  elevators,  111;  flour 
mills,  112-114;  kinds  of,  115-117; 
shipping,  117 ;  in  other  countries, 
118-120 ;  amount  produced,  121 ; 
breeding  new  wheats,  122 
Wheeling,  iron  industry,  180-181 
Whisky,  manufacture  of,  133,  134 
White  Horse  Rapids,  route  to  Klon- 
dike, 187 

White  Mountains,  part  of  Appa- 
lachian System,  15;  lumbering, 
265 
White  Pass,  height,  186;   miners' 

trail  to  Klondike,  187 
White  Pass  and  Yukon  Railroad, 
'  difficulties  of  construction,  186 
Whitefish,  in  Great  Lakes,  316 
Wilkesbarre,  mining  in,  139 
Wilmington,    canning   fruits    and 

vegetables,  83 

Wine,  manufacture  of.  95-96 
Winona,  lumbering,  261,  274 
Wisconsin,  wheat,  116 ;  lumbering, 

253,  260 

Wisconsin  River,  lumbering  on, 
260,  267,  274  .  . 


INDEX 


335 


Wool,  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors, 
233;  rank  of  states,  239;  from 
Merino  sheep,  241 ;  manufactur- 
ing, 242-24G ;  amount  used,  245, 
246 ;  in  other  countries,  246-248 ; 
wool  from  different  animals,  248- 
251 


Wyoming,  surface,  21 


Yellow  Kiver,  lumbering  on,  261 
Yonkers,  carpet  manufacturing,  244 
Yukon  River,  Klondike  a  branch  of, 

188 ;  gold-yielding  branches,  188; 

trip  from  Dawson  to  Nome,  191 


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•  •  . 

' 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 

